High school
by City.of.sour.wolf.runners
Summary: The avengers are young. It's difficult enough dealing with master criminals and exhausting missions, let alone each other. Bring love into it and things really start to get messy. The team are sent on a new mission to infiltrate a high school, but will their cover be blown due to love's keen sting? You'll have to read and find out! Xx
1. I've got a lot on my shoulders

"Well done!" Steve charged through the avengers' tower, slamming the door shut behind him.

Stark stalked after him, anger dominating his minuscular feeling of guilt. "Hey don't go blaming this whole thing on me, pal!"  
The rest of the avengers strolled behind them, their heads bent as another argument descended between the group.

Steve began pacing furiously, his hand itching at the back of his neck as the past mission plays over in his head.

 **Flashback**

 _Chaos erupts around Cap as his orders are blatantly ignored. "Stark! I told you, shut it down." No response._

 _In the distance Hulk smashes a shooting plane - which had been stalling Thor for the last 5 minutes - from the sky and out of the corner of his eye, the soldier spies Black Widow ducking behind a truck for cover as both the burning aircraft and Hulk plummet towards the ground._

 _Using his shield efficiently Captain America charges to defend isolated children escaping the knocked over school bus, Hawkeye falls like a feather to assist.  
Whilst their backs are turned numerous soldiers creep behind them, each one shot down quickly and successfully by Romanoff who calls through their connected ear-piece "We can't keep holding them off, Cap! Sooner or later someone's going to get..." a grunt as she kicks the roof of a destroyed car to help protect the saving boys, dashing off into Thor's outstretched arms as her cover is blown and Thor and Widow shot off into the air. "HURT!" _

_Rogers' knows she's right, but they can't leave without Stark; as tempting as it seems._

 _"STARK! We need to leave, now!" Again no response, double checking the bus is evacuated Hawkeye climbs down from the smashed window and calls to Cap, pointing out a unattended child running around in the destruction of tall towers, crumbling cars and ferocious flames. He was screaming. Hurriedly Cap skids across the street, sweeping the child into his arms and throwing him, as carefully as he can, into Widow's protective hands as she helps shelter the children alone with Thor under a strong structured garage._

 _Just when Cap was giving up on Stark, he responds on his comm "Alright old man! I'm back, what's goin...whoa!" Awe fills his voice, Hawkeye releases arrow after arrow. Stark actually chuckles "Ahah, you guys really missed me huh?" Several well-chosen responses are ushered by the defensive team._

 **End of Flashback**

"Don't!" Steve shoves Stark's outstretched arm off his hunched shoulders, Stark stumbles, in an attempt to look cool he struts as if he was about to punch Cap. Before his hand even moves from his body Rogers' catches it.

"You risked the lives of every civilian remaining at that Hydra base!" The words shattered into tiny pieces of overlooked glass as Stark goes to retrieve a beer from the fridge.

"Chill out! The mission was a success: we shut down the Hydra base and I retrieved the Intel, FURY asked for."

He does a double-take at the beerless fridge and spins on his heel, accusing each avenger - except for Cap - in turn. "Where are all my beers?"  
Banner who was now lying on the sofa with his head in his hands replied "Fury confiscated them, remember? You're not legally allowed to drink alcohol yet, Tony."

Stark sniggered. "Are you serious? I save the world more times in a week, than Fury gets up from his chair in a month. Do I not have rights?"

Anger pounced like a tiger inside Steve. "That doesn't matter!" Both the lack of alcohol and the interpreted success of the mission.  
"What matters is that you ignored a direct order in the field! And need I remind you that Fury said retrieve Intel IF the hostages and civilians were evacuated and we still had time. Which we did not!"

Stark now rested on his lounge chair - he called it 'The King's throne' which had caused a little stress between Stark and Thor - rubbing his temples.

Silence mocked the sulking teenagers as it danced through the empty gaps between their bubbles of tension.

Out of the miserable cloud of blue, spoke JARVIS's robotic voice "Director Fury is online 1 waiting for a debriefing and to give you a new mission."

Stiffly, almost like the group didn't want to leave this damp atmosphere - more like they didn't want a new one to unfold following a unrevealed mission - the gang walked to the technology centre. This was only regularly used by Romanoff and occasionally Banner.  
Nat, the most familiar with the technology, sat at the screen and opened up a waiting video of Fury frowning at them.

"What in the dang hell happened?" Fury's wining voice was too pitchy for Steve at this precise moment, but he answered anyway, gritting his teeth at the blame he'd receive from Fury for not being able to 'control' his team! - Stark

Instead of dobbing him in like Tony expected Steve would, Cap's response left little room for the truth. The swiftness of his lie was...inspiring. If you'd not been able to witness it with your own eyes you would have thought it had either come from one of the two trained spies.  
"There was a misuse of communication and I mislead my team to believe we were gathering Intel as well as extracting hostages. It's my fault the mission was jeopardized and delayed, it won't happen again sir."

Fury glared at Rogers in extreme concentration for several pressurised minutes until he swiftly moved on. "I hope not, otherwise your leadership will be rethought and replaced Captain." Steve's head fell and he stared at his shiny, combat boots. "I understand sir."

The sight was sore to the eye and Natasha had to quickly look away to avoid a confession racing from her lips. She stared at Tony, of all of them he should be the one confessing, but of course he was daydreaming into the distance.  
Oblivious to his surroundings.

"Anyhow I've got a new mission; there will be a briefing package for each of you by tomorrow morning. R.E.A.D it thoroughly and you're jet will arrive Sunday at 8am. Any questions, call me. Oh and Cap, don't fail me this time!" With a hard glance he dismissed them all, except Steve.

Fury spoke quickly and clearly to the lonesome soldier "Rogers I don't know what's going on up there but you need to sort it out. The last we need is our team falling apart right before they're needed for a nuclear war or something! And I don't know what you're not telling me but something smells fishy and it ain't my sushi." He massaged the bridge of his nose before continuing.

"Steve, you're a good leader for many reasons. It's obvious to anyone how much they trust you, because otherwise one of your teammates would have spilled what you were hiding just then. Just don't let me down, I'm counting on you."

And with that pressurising statement resting heavily on Steve's shoulders the screen went black; he turned to leave and jumped at the sight of Natasha. He'd been so wrapped up in Fury's criticism that he hadn't even noticed the spy had stayed, that's why she was one of, if not the best in the business.  
He didn't know what he expected Natasha to say and he wasn't even sure if she knew what she was going to say, so they stayed in silence.

Steve liked Nat, although she scared the hell out of him there was something...unthreatening about her. She was regularly quiet, but not because she didn't care or anything, because she used her head more than her mouth. She was an observer.  
But she seemed friendly enough; she clearly shared a strong bond with Barton. Everyone else she was professional with left their relationship open for work and only work.

Nonetheless she followed him back to his room and when he walked in she closed the door behind herself. For a second she stood their awkwardly staring at his belongings, he didn't have much. If anything the room was exactly how he'd found it, after being dished out of the ocean 2 years ago.

Finally she spoke, neutralising the momentary thought were Steve contemplated whether she had lost her voice. "You okay?" Steve nodded and Natasha took that as an invitation for her to sit on the edge of his bed, a short distance from him.

"Fury was quite hard on you."

Steve left little room for conversation in his tone. "I'm used to it." But Nat keep talking.

"It's only because you're better than the others." He cocked his eyebrow at this, leading Natasha to explain. "You're the leader, clearly that points out that you're the best to lead the team, therefore the best."

Steve felt mildly uncomfortable and modestly refused to believe that, "No, Stark's much better with his suits and Banner with his sciencey things and you...No I'm definitely not good at any of those sorts of things."  
Natasha smirked at him. "That's not what I said. I said you're better, not at the digital side of things. Or even in the field." There was a thick layer of confidence over her tongue when she mentioned the battles.

"You're better at making the hard decisions and clearly you're a better person because you covered Tony's back when he definitely wouldn't have for you." Steve ignored the compliment and instead focused on Stark.

"Would you have not done the same?" Natasha sniggered; it was a rather endearing sound. "There's not a doubt in my mind, I would have left behind at the Hydra base."

Steve was startled with the certainty of her voice. "Why did you cover for him? You basically just put your own arse on the line for somebody you don't even like."

Steve's mouth perked up at the corner "Is it that obvious?" He questioned about the latter of her statement. She smiled at him, her tongue dripping with sarcasm "No, I'm just that good of an observer."  
After a shared laugh Steve answered her question, it was surprisingly bothering her. Natasha did like Steve, despite her desperate attempts not to. He was really hard not to like, she had expected him to be shallow and self-obsessed - somewhat like Tony - thinking his whole patriotism was just a front, a strong source of propaganda. But she had been wrong.

She'd also been open for the leader position of the avengers and when Fury had given it to Rogers she had been anxious to know why. From the very beginning of their team being assembled she'd watched, hoping to pin-point the attraction he held over her for the position. It hadn't taken her long to locate it; he was simply a better person than she was. And it took some time, but she was okay with that.

Steve spoke to the floor, his cheeks slightly reddening as he justified his reasoning. "I'm the team leader, so doesn't that make any failure - small or big - my fault. At the end of the day it doesn't matter if Tony dropped an atomic bomb on America, if I'm his leader and he's my responsibility I'm the one who would get the cut."

Nat couldn't help but smile brightly at him; he'd just proved how much better a person he is than her. To try and lighten the mood Natasha said "In all fairness if Stark did drop an atomic bomb on America I'm pretty sure we'd all get cut."

"Well then" Steve finally made eye contact with her "we better pray he doesn't." At the same time they stood to face each other, Natasha a good few inches shorter than him. After an extended use of eye contact, where blue and green moulded to one Nat moved to leave and just before the door shut behind her petite figure Steve called "Thank you, Natasha." He was hesitant on using her first name, but happy after he'd done so.

She curiously glanced at his distinctive features "For what?"

For a wild second Steve panicked, his mind gone blank. Somehow he managed to regain control of his mouth and said, confusing himself as he did so. "For just...being here."

She smiled her killer smile and shut the door softly behind herself, almost as if she was scared that shutting it too loudly would break the hidden connection the pair had begun to build.

As Steve fell asleep that night the last thing he heard and saw was Natasha's red lips telling him "...you're a better person..." For the first in a long line of disturbed slumbers Steve sleep soundlessly as he finally let the demons from the day wither away.


	2. Briefing package

**In this chapter I really wanted to focus on how Natasha felt. I feel like, one of the attractions she has to Cap is that he pushes her out of her comfort zone. I really want this story to show a different side to Black Widow, who in the films and past fanfics has been depicted as so assertive and self-assured person. But I think that one of the draw backs about her character and the attraction she holds to Steve is that feeling of not knowing what's going to happen or what will happen next.  
Although that can be a little daunting I also find it exciting because as a writer and fan I can do some much with it!**

The next morning Steve woke in a better mood than he had since he'd been fished from the ocean. _Was that a bad thing?_

As soon as a beam of light flickered through the crack in the curtain and bounced onto his face he was awake and energised. The first thing he did was, think of Natasha and instantly a smile was plastered to his usually dry mouth, it may be difficult to think but Steve didn't actually like his current life. _Who would?_

Sure, his previous life hadn't been all candy canes and sunny days; he'd struggled to get up every morning. But after the serum, he'd changed; both physically but also mentally. He'd grown the confidence a normal teenager would have and he had been happy in himself and his life. Once he'd been able to fight for his country, even at such a young age, his happiness was beyond comparison.

Even when he was in that plane, finally reaching the inevitable decision that he'd mostly die he was so grateful for his life and quite thankful that he'd die as a hero rather than an old man that was beginning to fade both in reality and in memory.

However, when he was dished out of the water he thought he'd been given a gift from God to continue his life; with his friends and family; with Peggy and Bucky; the most important people in his life. His hopes and dreams had been broken into and then robbed from him, when he'd found out that they were gone. All of them. Steve still remembers the rug being pulled from beneath him but instead of falling to the ground the floor opened up underneath him.

He was left to fall through a never ending black hole and there was nobody to pull him out.

Ever since then Steve had felt like he'd been dawdling through life, not making real connections or relationships with people. Wherever he went everybody wanted to know him, but for all the wrong reasons.

Even saving the world had felt foreign, the spark of fighting for something he believed in, he would die for, was gone. Because he wasn't doing it with his friends, he wasn't doing it for his parents or himself even. He was doing it because he had nothing else to do, that's all he was good at and that's all people wanted him to do.

And then he'd tried to move forward, he'd tried to help people. Once Fury brought him into the Avengers initiative Steve finally felt like he was getting back into the world, like he'd have a family. But even that had sore spots; he fought with Tony a lot, was distant with Barton and Romanoff and had nothing in common with Banner. Thor was always easy to get on with, given their very personal and different connections to this world; they had more in common than Steve did with any other human on Earth. But Thor's people were very different from Steve's, so there was always a lacking in sympathy or empathy.

 _For Christ's sake, who could empathize with Steve?_ He hated admitting it and hated that feeling of self-pity threatening to build in his stomach but no one could even try to understand what he'd been through and Steve prayed with all his heart that nobody did.

Moving on from his pity party Steve hurried to the kitchen for a quick breakfast, on his journey he tripped over a large package on his doorstop. He picked it up and brought it with him to the kitchen, once he'd made a cup of strong coffee and burnt some toast - still struggling with modern technology, though he'd rather struggle through than have his own personal JARVIS doing everything for him, like somebody he knew a little too well for his liking (although Steve would happily say that JARVIS was extremely helpful at time, but somethings he has to learn to do for himself) - he sat down at the kitchen island and scanned through the package.

After reading the first page he choked on a bit of toast and had to reread, to double check he'd taken it in right. Once he'd read it a 5th time he continued through the other pages.

Fury really was giving them the scrapes this time:  
He wanted the avengers - Earth's mightiest heroes and all - to infiltrate a high school that they believed was led by a Hydra official who was entering students into a secret training program to be Hydra's next soldiers/agents.

In all fairness it was a damned stupid idea, good but stupid. The worst part was that from the jist of what Steve had read so far SHIELD wasn't even that sure this was happening, to him this sounded more like a wild goose chase.

Biting down on his bitterness Steve kept reading, he understood why Fury was sending them. Apparently the mission would require all of their unique skills. Plus they were all the right age to pass for high school students, had they been ordinary teenagers they'd still be in high school.

He had to laugh when he saw their personal high school profiles and the lessons they'd be taking:

Steve - history, gym, English  
Natasha - gym, computing, Russian  
Tony - maths, engineering, science  
Thor - gym, English, sociology  
Clint - maths, gym, ethics and philosophy  
Bruce - science, maths, computing

His laughter must have been loud because soon the avengers all stammered into the kitchen, one by one. First Banner who greeted him with a little caution but smiled when he saw him. Then Natasha, who had clearly just come back from a heavy workout session from the gym, she gave him a bizarre glance but then a sneaky wink when she saw what he was reading, Barton followed shortly after unblinking and clearly sleep deprived.  
After Clint, Thor skipped into the kitchen making a loud thud with every leap, he was whistling a very familiar tune that Steve was shy to admit he'd began humming in the shower.  
Last and least favorited stalked a stroppy Stark who glared at Steve when he saw the briefing folder placed before him, finally Banner snapped out of his stumbling, still-half sleepiness and asked what Steve was looking at.

A small smile played with his features "This...is our latest mission. Have any of you read this yet?" He took a deep drink from his mug of coffee.

"Nope."

"Not, yet."

"No intendo!" Stark stole a bit of burnt toast from Steve's plate, took a bite and then grimaced at the dry texture on his tongue.  
Steve rolled his eyes and caught Natasha smirking at him.

"Well you might wanna check it out; this'll be your hardest mission yet."

Everybody chuckled, even Banner laughed at Rogers. "Steve...it's just a investigation. We've been in way worse..."

Natasha cut off the source of amusement, reminding three members of the team their specialities when it came to the field. "The difference is, you guys may be able to kick arse. But whether you can sell a story is what this all comes down to. If you can't pull off the role, our cover will be blown."

Silence.

Steve headed for the elevator, picturing the empty gym below, tempting him for a workout session. "I'd get reading if I was you."  
The elevator door pinged shut behind him.

* * *

The gym was quiet except for the slightest layer of heavy breathing and the constant thump of fists of steel breaking against a punching bag, most likely leaving it severally bruised if not broken.

Natasha peeked around the corner, closer enough to see him but not close enough to be seen.  
She didn't know what had come over her, she'd been if anything ignoring Steve - unless they were in the field - since the avengers had all relocated to the tower. But yesterday, when he'd covered for Stark...something about it just drew her in.

She was so lost when she was with him; unsure even of whether she was breathing too heavily.  
She was a china doll being wrapped in a constant circle of bubble wrap, for what seemed like her protection but really she felt she was being misled.

He made her question every action she ever committed and his genuine caring and sensitive nature made her head spin; Natasha was fascinated with him.

Gingerly, Nat shifted in the shadows, daring herself to engage contact with the hard at work soldier, _why was she so scared?_

However her chance to either answer that question or run away was blown when a final knockout blow from Steve sent the punching bag spinning towards the wall, Natasha's wall. Easily she dodged it, but the safety of shadows was left behind.  
Rogers' was in front of her, breathing hard, his soft skin covered in a shiny sheet of sweat.

As fast as a flash Natasha wanted to bolt, she didn't want to hear or answer any questions she herself didn't know the answers to. _She only acts like she knows everything._ Before either one of her possible scenarios could play out Steve called out to her...either not caring or being friendly enough not to ask.  
"Up for a sparring match?"

A light bubble built in her stomach as Nat swaggered forwards, confidence being breathed in like oxygen. "Depends..."

He was unaware of the teasing "On?"

"Whether you're gonna cry like a girl when I kick your..."

He cut in, "You're on!" smirking at her.

Steve ran at her, aiming for the element of surprise. They both fell to the fall, rolling slightly until Natasha jumped up, dodging a punch to the gut. Superbly she swept Steve's slender structured legs out from under him, sending him to the mat. He grabbed her leg as he collided with the floor, pulling her with him.

She landed on his chest, staring down at his big blue eyes. Her hands went to his shoulders to push herself off him but as she did so his hand grabbed hers, keeping it in place.  
A large sigh escaped her pursed lips and for a brief second she paused, looking down at him. A quick feeling of temptation passed between them, but before it could grip either one into doing something they could later forget Nat pulled away. Pushing the moment away, for the slightest second after doing so she was terrified this would become unbearably awkward.

Steve stood up, trying to shove down his embarrassment, he tapped her turned shoulder. Revealing an agitated Romanoff, this couldn't be good. But he asked her anyway, somewhere dragging his courage as a front to protect him. "Hey, sorry. I didn't mean to over step."

Natasha snarled, causing Steve to grimace. "They never do, but somehow they can't stop themselves." Rogers was really confused, how had they just gone from flirtatious teasing to him over stepping his boundaries?

But before his speculation could be furthered the ever changing mood of Natasha followed as her shadow out of the gym.

Steve Rogers was alone.

* * *

The sun had finally crept up with the changing days and it was now Sunday; the day they'd be officially moving to their assigned location.  
Steve still hadn't properly spoken to Nat and he feared their first encounter where Barton or Banner weren't subconsciously helping the avoiding pair out with conversation.

Over the whole situation he believed there had just been a misunderstanding, most of all he was furious with himself for:

\- letting that misunderstanding occur,

\- and for not arguing that he wasn't making a pass or something after it happened.

However Steve had either been incredibly unlucky or Nat was determined not to speak to him - he believed the latter suggestion -  
But that morning when Natasha - second to arrive for their jet ride, after Steve of course - walked into the hallway she seemed to be in an ecstatic mood. She greeted him warmly and therefore caused Steve to enquire for an explanation.

"Look Nat, I'm really sorry for..."

"It's fine Rogers, I was just...jumping to conclusions and I thought..."

Steve's hand came out in front of him to push her arguments away. "Natasha," He spoke it with such kindness and admiration she was forced to look into his startling blue hues. "I would never try to hurt you or make a pass at you."

She laughed, her velvety tone curling around his tense torso, a shiver running down his spin and his hair standing abrupt as an army of goose bumps invades his body.

"Steve, it's not that I thought you'd do anything like that." The amusement was now dominated by a wisp of secretary, though it was still there. Setting his jaw on edge, he suddenly had a desire to hold her; he restrained, knowing how that would end. "It's that...I was worried you'd hug me or tell me I was beautiful or smile your smile" she grinned herself at this, then shook her features back to normality - e.g. Natasha's expressionless mask - "I was just scared you'd be gentle with me."

Steve looked incredulously at her "Is that not what you'd want, for somebody to be gentle with you?"

She shook her head, "They never have before."

Surprising even himself he daringly spoke "Well there's always a first!" Nat tried desperately to hide her snigger at his sudden burst of confidence but couldn't hold back the subsided grin.

Her fingers mildly danced along the counter, without meaning to his hand rested just to the side of hers; but when her fingers slide over his he had no intention of retrieving them.

"Sorry, we're late!" Banner mouthed, still clearly shattered from lack of sleep. Slowly; as not to hurt Steve's heightened emotions? She removed her hand, but with Banner leading the dauntingly confused avengers nobody saw the swift action, not even Banner.


	3. First day of school

**Let the true story begin!**

When the avengers got outside, suitcases in tow, they discovered an empty jet with coordinates inside. Fury hadn't led on that they'd be the ones driving; Nat gave a valid reasoning to the secrecy "This really must be a higher classed mission than expected, this way only SHIELD and we will know our location."

Steve still tingled when around her after their confessions this morning, but he was still dying desperately to ask her why she claimed she didn't want him to treat her the way she deserved to be treated, but that would clearly have to wait.

Now they were on board the jet, Barton flying them to their assigned coordinates. Soon they came to landing by a fairly small - compared to what they were used to - house. The garage was bigger than the actual building they'd be living in, which they soon discovered was due to the training area and 6 different vehicles designed specifically for each member, Nat was frilled to still have her Porsche within reach.

The house did not receive the same excited response, the lounge and kitchen were bigger enough, there were three bathrooms in total - Natasha ran to the biggest and immediately claimed it as her own - however the bedrooms were not rewarding. - The boys were all bunking up, except for Steve and Natasha who both managed to get separate rooms - Natasha because she was a girl and would have pretty much murdered whoever would have volunteered have to share and Steve because Tony called it and Romanoff then yelled at him and said Steve deserved it, therefore Rogers got a private room. -

The rest of the day had been spend relaxing and getting used to their new profiles for the school, everybody was a little surprised and puzzled that they got to keep their original names. However, the avengers initiative was reasonably new and only the top of the top spies new about them. Not even everybody at SHIELD new about them.

Despite the slight downgrade of commendation the fridge was filled with cooked meals, new groceries and drinks - including Stark's stash of beer - as well as the wardrobes. SHIELD had really gone all out and honestly Steve didn't mind it one damn bit, especially when he found himself in Romanoff's company late at night.

She'd come to his room, knocked politely and then entered. Steve smiled when he saw her; maybe a bit too brightly?  
Natasha came and sat next to him, closer than usual and began drawing patterns on his bed sheet, a cute crease forming between her brows.

Finally Rogers' plucked up the courage to continue their earlier conversation. "Nat...You were saying earlier how you got scared off because I was being gentle...do you not want that?"

She gulped, clearly concentrating on keeping her eyelevel on the bed. "It's not that I don't want that stuff and it's not because it's from you"  
her tone softened and her smile heightened;  
a delicate daisy blowing gently through the light summer breeze.

"It's because...I don't think I necessarily deserve it. All the things I've done...and by no means have I amended them. But I'm ok with that, as harsh and lethal as it sounds I'm okay with living with these consequences, but to ask somebody else to...that's another matter entirely."

Steve felt a lump form in his throat, he hated that she felt that way and would do anything to erase that puddle of doubt building in her mind. But he knew her too well; the more he tried to bring out the sunshine the harder it would rain.

He licked his dry lips and coughed lightly, Nat dared a glance up and within several seconds of looking into his eyes she then removed hers. "I think you're being too hard on yourself." Natasha laughed and her whiskey chuckle made his confidence melt, but when she took his hand - confusion present in her pondering canvas - he felt the harsh finality of the paint stroke smear and she easily repainted, softening the hard corners and smoothing the bumpy edges.

"A bit rich coming from the man who apologized to Tony Stark for not making his bed the first week he moved into the tower." Steve cheeks were a darker shade of red than Natasha's hair, Tasha noted how endearingly cute he got when he was embarrassed. To save him from further humiliation she stood. Reluctantly taking her hand with her and headed for the door, "Thank you Rogers."

Steve hurried behind her retreating shadow, "For what?" he called after her before the door almost sealed their connection; a cheeky grin reformed her facial features. "For trying to mend a broken wing."

Suddenly Nat stiffened as his lip touched her ear as he quietly whispered "You're not broken, just a little bent." As quickly as he'd crept up behind her he vanished, gently shutting the door behind him. Nat didn't move though, she stood still, rethinking the last 10 seconds which had passed far too quickly for her liking.  
She craved his touch; the softness of his lips against her burning skin.

Moments later Romanoff managed to collect the drops of leaked feelings from the carpet and headed for her own room, her hand touching the scarlet red ear that had been kissed by Steve. Once in her room and curled up under her all too lonely bedding she thought of Steve, her last thought before sleep picked her up in his arms and opened the world of dreams to her was:

 _Steve Rogers just called me bent!_

* * *

The next morning Nat couldn't deny her pleasure at going to school; when she was younger she was constantly training and going on missions so despite learning and perfecting her craft she never really got an education. This was hardly different though, she was after all on a mission, but it was the closest she was going to get.

That morning she dressed in a tight black denim skirt, a plain red t-shirt and black convers. She'd admit it to herself; the style was a little young for her character, but definitely high schoolish and she looked hot. Then she collected her assigned books and headed for a quick breakfast, where the rest of the boys were assembled. She smiled at them all, gazing at Steve a little longer than the others but nobody would notice.

Soon after that they were all piling into the garage, "So how should we do this?" Banner questioned, Thor perked up towering over Natasha indefinitely "Why don't we all ride together as it is our first day and all?"

Barton was firm and quiet "No that would be too suspicious. Stark and Banner go alone and arrive separately, Steve and Thor go together in Thor's jeep and me and Tasha shall arrive last." They all agreed and soon Clint and Tasha were on their way, during the car journey they were silent.

That's what Natasha liked about Clint, he didn't force conversation but the silences weren't awkward. If he had something to say to you he'd say it, if not he'd just concentrate on the situation at hand, which didn't mean however that he wouldn't tease her tediously or joke around with the guys. But he didn't need conversation to communicate with the people close to him.  
Another reason why their partnership worked so well in the field, they knew each other and their movements; to be in the industry you needed to.

Not long after they'd set off Barton pulled up into a massive car park, the vehicles ranged from vans to Mercedes.

Out of the busying crowd Nat spotted her teammates, each entering separately and heading for the reception to sign in. Natasha and Clint did the same and soon the avengers were assembled before the secretary handing out different bits and pieces of useless paperwork which would add up to nothing.

Then they were all sent off to registration, they were all in the same home room and decided to sit together. The room was big and spacious and it was clear half the class wasn't there yet. Nat instantly pointed out the different friendship groups and spied several gangs of girls staring off at Thor and Steve; a few of them even eyed Nat. When they saw her noticing them they immediately began to whisper louder than necessary, Tasha shifted closer to the boys just to make a point.

Stark eyed her "Making friends Romanoff?" Nat playfully snarled at him and stood to go and hand in a piece of paper to the registerator when she began walking back a bundle of boys stalked into the room, all silencing when they noticed the red head. One of them, clearly the leader whistled.  
The rest of the avengers scowled in their direction, Barton shaking his head empathetically; that poor boy won't know what hit him.

Nat spun and was instantly lifted into the air and spun around when a squeal escaped the dark strangers' lips "Natalia!" The team instantly sat up straighter and Steve bit into his lower lip when Nat clearly hugged the tall boy back.

He was tall but muscular, clearly popular and fairly attractive; his eyes were a dark brown which matched his shoulder length hair. After a painful eternity of a hug the pair finally settled and began engaging in a deep conversation where the boy was visibly flirting, Nat's behaviour just as advantageous though that was how she usually acted. But Steve only noticed it more due to the plonker she was talking to.

Thor asked Clint "How does she know that guy?" Barton frowned and Rogers was pleased to see he wasn't the only one experiencing displeasure at the converting pair. "Beats me, I've never seen this guy...But I think she's mentioned something about him….er, now that you mention it he seems a bit familiar…...I think he's called"

"JAMES!" A strikingly pretty - though she had nothing on Nat - girl: wearing blood-red lipstick, dark as coal eyeliner and a skin-tight navy coloured dress screamed from the other side of the room, clearly as rumpled, by the attraction the two believed to be strangers held, as Steve was.

A memory instantly jumped from Steve's mind and he sat up a little taller: _two young boys ran around a grassy field, chasing each other. The sun shone down from the sky, painting their skin in freckles and lighting their hair. "Time for dinner boys!" A pump woman called from a small house, **his house.**_ A gasp escaped Steve's frozen mouth. _It was his mother and the boys...the smaller one was him._ But who was the other? Realisation hit him like a break wall. _Bucky..._

* * *

Natasha returned to the group, her face flustered with flooding memories of her and James. _What was he doing here?_ This definitely put a twist on the mission, she was now 100% engaged and suspected a higher chance that in fact this school was infiltrated by Hydra.

She struggled to return to her teammates with as much confidence as she had when she'd left. Even though Natasha was still contemplating the emotions at seeing James again she felt guilty looking at Steve, so she avoided it as best she could. But once she sat down and saw the questioning looks from the others she had to look at him; although he wasn't looking at her. Rogers' was off in his own little world, without her, he was vividly shocked and his face resembled that off a terrified human who had seen a ghost.

 _Who was she kidding he had just seen a ghost!_  
Nervous danced to the beat of her deafening heart, making her senses heightened. _Should she be feeling guilty?_ I mean Natasha hadn't known he was still alive, once their partnership along with their relationship had ended he'd gone his separate ways. And it had been all those years ago, for all Tasha knew he was dead.  
But Steve, Steve had seen James die.

Nat cursed herself, _No!_ Rogers' hadn't seen James die, he'd seen Bucky die. From the stories Cap had told and her own memories she could see a clear distinction between the personalities, as far as Romanoff knew Bucky had died in that train accident...only James had survived.

 **PLEASE REVIEW**

 **XX**


	4. Let the hell begin

"Who's the dark knight over there?" Stark's charm fell on deaf ears as Nat scowled at him, her cheeks turning a darker shade of pink.  
 _He_ made her blush!

If Steve hadn't been reliving Bucky's death over and over and over again he would have almost felt jealous.

Reluctance covered her face and Rogers' was actually surprised she was telling him...them! "When I was in the Red Room...I had a partner, he's called the Winter Soldier. But I know him as James..." _No last name?_ Steve sarcastically pondered. "We were the best and given the hardest missions possible, we had no one except each other." She paused, breathing over a lump forming in her throat. "We were in love...at least I was and then...the Red Room found out and separated us...James was taken away from me. After then I've seen him on one other occasion...when he shot me."

The last words heightened their amplitude and Rogers' felt a gunshot wound break in his head, his vision turned red and all he saw was Natasha...and Bucky...

The group had nothing to say to that but Barton bravely took her hands in his. "You know what this means right?" He cocked an eye-brow.

Natasha half-heartedly nodded, "Er, birdboy care to share?" Stark lay back in his chair.  
Clint turned, an impatient sigh breaking from his lips but Romanoff beat him to it "This means that Fury was right...something, if not Hydra, is infiltrating this school."  
Perplexed eyes met hers and she continued to justify her point "He's a ghost story! One of the best...why would they send him to school?"

Nobody had an answer and the room seemed to quieten down, at least for the avengers, as they tried to fit their heads around how much bigger this mission was going to become.  
Suddenly, as if appearing at the speed of light, two teenagers walked in; one was a girl: she had long brown hair, was wearing a red dress and a silver necklace around her neck, she also had an essence of curiosity and her eyes saw straight through any mask you could put up. The other of the two was a boy: wearing running clothes, he was tall, muscular but slender and the way he moved around the girl showed deep devotion and love; _maybe they were brother and sister...twins?_ His hair was streaked with silver...usually quite an odd fashion statement...but somehow, on him it worked.

Steve gasped, recognising them from a previous mission he'd been sent a briefing package on but had later been cancelled. "What...you know them too?" Stark pestered "Okay, it's my turn...come on Michael Jackson...please Michael Jackson." Steve ignored, like everyone else, Tony's sarcastic retort.

"The Maximoff twins...Hydra's latest weapon." Banner crunched forwards, nervous jiggling around in his stomach. "What makes them so special?"

Steve paused long enough to remember their profiles "Something about enhanced abilities...miracles...something or other" As if hearing them talk the wondering girl glanced in their direction, her eyes seeking the secrets keep within. She then began to fascinate herself with her brother's ear, whispering about what Natasha could only assume was them.

Out of the blue a girl, more women like, stood before them. She was very beautiful and sophisticated; Nat could easily picture her in the 1940s. "Good Morning," an English accent rolled off her tongue "Peggy Carter at your service. Please to meet you." Her elegant hand extended to Natasha, who was surprised to be greeted so formally in a high school.

Sheepishly Nat spoke "Natasha Romanoff, nice to meet you too." Peggy removed her hand, a little too eagerly. "So...you're all new here?" Carter's eyes scanned the beaming avengers "Rather wild bunch aren't you! Ahah. Well I just came to introduce myself and maybe point out a few faces. Oh, but it seems you've already met James..." Romanoff grinned, there's the purpose. "...How long have you known him..."

Nat opened her mouth to speak, forming a fish face when she was interrupted by James "Talia here has known me for most of my life...my first official squeeze!" Steve felt sick.  
Peggy searched Romanoff's face as Nat tried to hide the army of memories, spreading through her mind, beating her bloody after being called 'Talia.'

"I thought you said your name was Natasha?" Peggy was definitely up to something and by her body language towards James it was obvious he'd found a new 'squeeze' _does that mean that Carter's in on this infiltration too?_

"When James knew me I was Natalia, but I didn't like it...it's quite formal, so now a days I got by Natasha." Peggy folded her lips, checking over the information Nat had given, for a while they were silent until James said "So Talia...introduce me to your friends." His hand rested on her shoulder, to her it felt like having Mjolnir weighing you down, she didn't move though...despite her discomfort she knew...James was her only way into this mission.

"Well I've only actually just met most of them, we're all transfers, but we came from different schools. All except Clint, he's been with me since middle school." Nat pointed out a daydreaming Barton who attempted a half-hearted smile which could not have back fired any more than it had; he frowned at the people before him.  
Natasha then continued "This is Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, Thor Odinson and Steve Rogers." All the boys greeted the strangers before them, Steve kept his face down.

Surely Bucky would recognise him. Please Bucky recognise him!  
James' face stayed welcoming and friendly, not a hint of memories moulding behind his dark eyes.

Peggy went to stay something but James interrupted, she didn't look happy about that "Right well we'll see you later, I assume you'll be in gym class Romanoff" he winked before stalking back to the other side of the room, Peggy stalking behind him, a storm blowing in her eyes.

Steve observed a friendly welcome to the two Maximoff twins by Bucky, this definitely seemed fishy.

"Well that was..." Romanoff started.  
"Awkward as hell! I swear this day is not looking good." Stark began biting his nails.  
Thor turned to Steve, who was shaking slightly "What do you suppose we do Captain?"

Steve thought for a moment, Natasha's kind encouraging words from several nights ago repeated in his ears.

"We engage, try and become friends with them and hopefully reveal Hydra once and for all." The team smiled, then the bell went and they all began gathering their things; Thor, Rogers, Barton and Romanoff heading for gym class, whilst Stark and Banner headed for the labs. Cap whispered to himself "And I get Bucky back...

"What's that Captain?" Barton calls.  
Steve tries to wipe away the worries "Nothing."

* * *

Gym class was a lot tougher than Steve thought it would be, nothing he couldn't handle by a long shot. But for a high school...it was challenging.

In the class they began by stretching and the coach claimed he wanted to see everybody's abilities. Steve assumed this was the advanced class given who he was with: Nat, Clint, Thor, Bucky, Pietro, Peggy, Sif and several others whose names he hadn't picked up. It was actually a surprisingly small class; after the warm up the coach gathered them all in.

"Okay, so I've decided we'll start with a little combat. Nothing overly violent, I don't want any medical visits! Um...let's see what you've got missy." He points at Natasha who glares up at him, causing several outbursts of laughter from Barton, Thor and Steve.

Slowly Natasha moves to stand on the centre mat. "Okay...what about..."  
Peggy eagerly steps up "I volunteer sir!"  
The coach rolls his eyes, "Ok Carter, let's see what you got."

Everybody instantly moves to the edges of the mats, waiting. Bucky yells with a slight frill of anticipation on his tongue "Go easy on her please!" Peggy responds instantly "Don't worry babe, I'll try not to damage her...too much." Bucky snorts "I wasn't talking to you...babe!" the last word is dripping in sarcasm. A fit of laughter escapes the huddled teens and Peggy almost growls.

Steve feels his blood boil but a damp cloth of relief plasters against his skin when he sees Natasha, ignoring Bucky and staring at Rogers. She was asking him how far to go, should she go flat out and wipe the board with Peggy or keep things hidden.

Steve shrugged openly but Thor yelled out, temporally deafening Clint who curled forwards from the noise "Go for the kill Natty! Show the British bird how it's done!" Thor then nudged Clint and whispered "I said bird." Clint looked bizarrely at Steve and then face palmed.

Natasha couldn't wipe away the summer smile despite the storming rain cloud panting furiously in the opposite corner of the mat; Peggy was fuming.  
Before coach started the fight Romanoff stared at Steve and he nodded to say, 'Go for it.'

He couldn't help but laugh at the grin positioning her features, as the whistle was blown. 5 seconds later Peggy was on the floor huffing and groaning and coach blew the whistle. Awe dancing on his wrinkled face, "I've...never...seen...er...so...quick!...how?"

Several lines of confusion descended onto his brow but before Nat could answer Bucky jumped forwards, wrapping his hand around Nat's waist and knocking their hips together "Sir it's only because Peggy's easy to beat, setting Talia up against somebody like me on the other hand..."

Steve felt his ears burning and it could all his strength to stop himself from ripping Bucky's hands off from Nat. However a warm bubble of water suddenly exploded inside his chest, as Natasha firmly pushed Bucky away and smiled up at Steve, dampening the fire until there was none left except for a tiny red spark; Natasha was that spark.

"Nice try Barnes, but that's not gonna happen." He turned to the rest of the group "Whose next?"

* * *

The rest of the morning flew by faster than Pietro had run circles around him that morning; it had been one of Steve's toughest sparring matches yet, mostly because he was too fast to get a definite punch in. However, the battle had ended in a strong draw as the lesson had finished before either had knocked out the other completely.

Steve was also feeling a lot more positively about the whole Bucky situation; he couldn't decide if that was due his mind finally accepting his survival or that Natasha had publically rejected him.

Also he'd just finished off a fantastic history lesson where he'd summed up the conditions of World War 2 for the soldiers perfectly; of course he did have first-hand experience which he greedily kept to himself. After that he'd spent 10 minutes during the beginning of lunch talking to his teacher about the justification of America's battle moves against the German Nazi's, he wasn't ashamed to admit he'd gotten pretty passionate about it and his excuse for his excess knowledge was that his dad was a history teacher and his grandad had fought in the war.  
It was a trustworthy and believable enough lie, Steve would admit to anyone how impressed he was with how swiftly he'd pulled that off.

He was making his way to the cafeteria when he spotted Nat at her locker putting away some books, he made his way eagerly to her and bumped hips with her, after a blinding second where she looked startled at his sudden appearance and act of such flirtatious braver and then she bumped hips with him back, making the agonising seconds she'd paused disintegrate before him.

"You look pleased with yourself? Finally convinced Tony to join the American justification club with ya?"  
He allowed false laughter to hide his real fit of chuckles "Very funny, Romanoff! Ready for lunch?" Nat nodded, knocking his hips again and as they headed off to the food hall Steve asked, humouring her slightly as well generally curious "Is there actually an American Justification club?"

* * *

The cafeteria was full with the crowded sound of laughing teens and the shadow of reclusive friends sat at the corner table.

After waiting at the Rapunzel long lunch line for their food Nat and Steve joined the rest of the group at their lunch table, they were engaging in a hilarious conversation about something or other.

As the conversation died down a bit their peaceful lunch was interrupted by no other than James. If Natasha had a choice she'd end this before anything began, James was seriously becoming a pest for 2 reasons. 1 being not only did it clearly hurt Steve about his presence and either lack of memory or harsh ignorance of their past but it also drove a sharp knife deep within her heart, a place she'd only revealed to a handful if that of people. After all they had been in love, a sick twisted, murderous merciless love but still a deep devoted love. And 2 his constant obsessive presence was just becoming a pain in the arse.

However, James was her closest and easiest way into discovering Hydra, so she had to play along, despite the narrowing glares Steve had been sending the two throughout the day. Although he'd seemed incredibly flirtatious, for Steve, and happy after gym this morning but as soon as Bucky got close the clouds concealed his eyes and the sky darkened; the sun was hidden and Nat didn't know what it would take to get the warm beams dancing over her skin again.

"So Talia...you certainly enjoyed your sparring match with Pegs earlier. Have you been practicing or has your technique just magically excelled? Gone are the days were I'd choose to go easy on you, just cus you were _my_ special gurl!" His emphasize of the word 'my' hit Steve like a punch to the gut.

Natasha couldn't hold herself back, no matter how dangerous it was her harsh and sharp snarl shot out faster than a bullet "Wasn't much of a sparring match, I could have hit her with a feather and she still would have fallen onto the floor like a pathetic bimboo. Is that your type now?" As soon as the words left her lips she knew she'd taken it too far and needed to desperately draw them back.

Bucky looked at her incredulously "Well you've certainly sharpened your tongue, excuse me." Hurriedly she dropped her food tray and chased him out of the cafeteria. "James...wait, I'm sorry!"

Soon they'd left behind the crowded dinner hall and where racing down the lonely streets of the school. Finally she caught up to him, her hand grabbing his arm "Let me explain."

James pulled free "Why should I? Sure Peggy's not the sweetest girl, but all she's tried to do is be nice to you and your _precise_ friends since you've showed up and all you can do is bitch about her to me? You're definitely not the same girl I was in love with."

Her heart pounded against her chest, a sonic boom in the infinite silence of her thoughts. "Please."

James changed his stance, no longer angling his body away from her, defeating his quick getaway. Natasha breathed a thankful sigh and started to justify the words of a stupid bitch that could have just seriously jeopardized the mission. "I missed you. When you left I was broken, the Red Room was close to getting rid of me. But then I got pulled out, but that doesn't mean my love for you stopped..." bending the truth massively "That whole thing with Carter, is just the sting of a scared spider."

He leaned forward, squinting at her "Scared?"

Natasha nodded, pulling her hair out of her face "Of losing you, again."

Romanoff was silent, praying she'd done enough without over-doing it. Suddenly his hands wrapped around her elbows, pulling her close. She thanked the lord that his eyes were closed so he didn't she her expression; pure terror. Still she let the kiss envelope her and she was ashamed to admit she felt something. But she couldn't tell if it was real or a memory.

* * *

Steve stared after her charging figure; he turned back to the guys who were all sat up in worry. Natasha had almost blown the mission; Bucky was their best asset, no matter how much Steve hated it.  
Chasing a hidden desire he couldn't find the string to he too dropped his tray and sprinted out of the hall, it took him a while to gather his wits. It was after all such a big school.

On his hunt to find Natasha he pondered what she'd do to reseal the crack she'd created, of course to an outsider it would look like plain bitchiness, but to an insider...someone who's known Nat for as long as James has, there was clearly another motive. Natasha Romanoff was lots of things; sharp, justified, loyal, honest, harsh, flirtatious, judgemental...but she wasn't a plain out bitch. - That's what made this mistake so dangerous, James could already be on to them. -

At least not the Natasha he knew.

Steve suddenly rounded the corner and stopped abruptly, down the corridor he saw Natasha.

Involved in an incredibly emotional kiss with Bucky...Steve felt a pain like no other he'd ever experienced.

He felt his heart crumble towards the ground.

 _Natasha_


	5. Distance

Steve was alone.

Snap!

A boot stamping on an ant.  
Fire drunkenly falling on figures of burning houses  
Waves attacking crumbling rocks, breaking away the weak

Pain

Like a virus, invading the victims soul, breaking, destroying, punishing, torturing. KILLING!

Pain = Virus = People

People, humans...they inhale and exhale pain, it's a drug. Giving and receiving...he hurt me, therefore hurt them back.  
It was a mess, it was a burning building, a dying world, and a corrupt system...humanity was anything but human.

* * *

Steve was a shadow.  
He avoided everyone, all the avengers.

If he'd thought his previous existence had been secluded, all it took was one firm look in the mirror to feel broken.

Blood no longer pumped through his veins, it was replaced with a virus...the pain never left. He feared it wouldn't. Everything reminded him of her

It hurt, looking at her hurt.

He desperately tried to extinguish his affection with her, but attempting to untangle feelings was like trying to locate a needle in a hay stack.  
It also meant dealing with them, which meant thinking about her...with him.

He spent the remainder of the week stumbling blindly around the school, ducking when he caught a glimpse of red or heard a velvety chuckle. Or even if the sun was particularly bright, he always assumed it was her smile.

Her relationship with James had considerably grown over the following days. He was no longer Bucky and he never would be.

Despite his constant coverage of anything to do with Romanoff he still caught shards and slivers of glass; it seemed the entire school was obsessed with the budding romance, including Stark. So Steve then had to avoid him, honestly that wasn't much of a downer but that also meant avoiding Thor and Banner who had been turned into Tony's latest labradoodles due to a severe loose of a risky bet.

That left Barton, the solitude archer. Rogers' didn't have to be the best of chums with Hawkeye to know he wasn't thrilled about the latest relationship, however Cap couldn't expose the nerve in case Romanoff arose from the shadows; resembling the deadly spider she was.

He knew his ignorance of her was irritating and irrational, but so was having your heart crushed.

Truthfully Steve knew he had no right to feel this way, he wasn't involved with Natasha and maybe he figured out too late that he wanted to be. However, you couldn't help how you felt or who you liked.

Luckily his teammates gave him the space he needed, after making it fairly crystal that he wanted to be alone, even Nat stayed away. But the battling emotions in her verdant eyes still made his hair stand on edge, he hadn't actually decided whether or not he was glad or disappointed that she'd stayed away.  
Anyhow thanks to the corruption from his fellow avengers Steve found it easier to cope, the only lesson he experienced elephant loads of torture was gym; the only lesson both James and Natasha were in and gym being so physical involved a lot of nauseas groping which Steve could only just hold back from storming out of the building from.

Despite his teams' vivid concerns, he was coping well. At least in his own eyes he'd made improvements from breaking the wall in his room; finally thankful for a private bedroom.  
But his improving ability to not destroy materials was put to the test one gym lesson, they'd just finished testing the waters; finally everybody had sparred; everybody except James and Steve. So when it finally came down to it, Steve won, by the skin of his teeth; there was no point building himself more than the necessary or lie from the truth. He'd still won, channelled all that anger.

But it was afterwards that really screwed with him, he was making his way to the library, his latest pity party was scheduled in 5 minutes, when he was taped on the shoulder. He didn't even need to see him to know James was behind him; the smell of hatred had already filled Rogers' nostrils. After a second to debate whether he should just ignore him or not Steve turned, no point delaying the inevitable any further than he had.

They faced each other, Steve was fractionally taller. But the fact that Cap was a super soldier and James wasn't and Steve was only just taller bothered him to the point where he almost punched him. Rogers' new he was just reaching for scraps now, searching desperately for a possibility to keep his mask of anger up.

James spoke in a rough voice, obviously trying to intimidate him "You wanna quit messing with Talia?" Steve was so shocked his anger transformed faster than the speed of light into an irritated confusion. "Excuse me?"

"You heard, quit kidding yourself and back the hell off!" Steve would have happily explained to the idiot that he wasn't even witnessing Natasha's presence anymore but sharply switched tactics when Barnes told him to back off.

"Last I heard you did a perfect example of that several years ago. You left her! And now you've come swooping in, breaking the wall she was so close to fixing. And you...want to tell me to back off!"

Bucky growled, stepping forward "That wasn't my choice and so what? Talia's happy, clearly you were to damn slow to take your chance when you had it so leave her alone!"

Steve yelled, also stepping closer "HER NAME ISN'T TALIA! The girl you're dating isn't Talia! That's the girl you left behind and obviously you haven't been bothered enough to notice...you've been too busy groping and feeling her up!"

James rose to the bait, setting his own trap "Well at least I had the guts! We're not all dead inside! And you don't know a dang thing..." He was cut off...by Steve's fist dislocating his jaw.

The thing he knew Bucky was throwing wild and disjointed punches, clearly running on anger than strategy, they were easy enough to block. But before Steve could make the next move the fight was intercepted by Natasha.

She was leaning into Bucky, her hands stretched out on either side of her, blocking Steve from attacking but also preventing Bucky from doing so as well. "STOP IT!"

However the boys still frantically braced for each other, desperate to get the next hit in. Like it was a sickening drug...the pain suddenly came flooding back as he saw James' hands resting on Nat's hips. Holding him to her and she leaned into him, her eyes staring furiously at Steve.

A mixture of muddled moods and interpretations wrapped around him, drowning him in doubt and self-hate. _What was he doing?_ He'd actually gone as if to harm Romanoff.

Out of the blue Steve charged, turning, dropping all his books and heading for the car park.

* * *

Anger pumped through her veins, filling her up to boiling point, she was going to explode. Natasha didn't know who she was angrier at; James for intercepting Steve and causing him distress or Steve for allowing him to get to him.  
But then she saw him, he'd been ignoring her all week and she didn't know why. It wasn't until now that she understood, Romanoff had been too dumb, too blinded, too misleading...in his eyes; the azure blue that used to put a smile on her face; oceans, seas, rivers had never been clearer. The whirlpool of blue leads her on trails of a beautiful pain.

In his reflective orbs she saw: Bucky, Steve's best friend in the whole world, whom he'd known to be dead for the last 70 or odd years, was wrapping himself in a intermit hug with Natasha Romanoff; his partner, his friend, the girl who was there for him when he had no one, the person who shone the light on his eerie darkness that threatened to consume his life in black.  
Only now did Natasha Romanoff, the world's best spy, one of the most intelligent and perceptive people in the universe, realise how blind she'd been.

Pain flashed before her like a dagger impaling her heart; Steve ran, from Bucky, from her...from himself and his own desires.

Realisation hit her head on, confusion and doubts ironed out until no crease was visible. Her feelings towards James, no matter how big or small, were memories. Nothing new. Something old.  
She wanted, scratch that, she NEEDED...Steve.

Adrenaline invaded her body, forming goose bumps to shiver up and down her spine. She followed him, to the car park and then speeding - way over the limit - to their house.  
When she arrived she barely pulled up the brake before hitting the back of Thor's jeep.

Not giving a damn she ran for the house, the front door wide open, she didn't shut it behind her either. She leap like a lioness for his room and attempted to shove the door open, but she couldn't.

A strong weight, maybe a wardrobe? was pressed against the door, she knew he was in there.

She began slamming her fist against the door, desperate. "Rogers!" Bang! Bang! "Cap, come on."

Boom! Bang! Slap!

"Steve, I'm sorry. I didn't...I didn't know..." Boom! Bang! Slap!

Her voice broke as her chest caught alight "Steve! It was for the mission! THE MISSION!" Boom! Bang! Slap!

She sounded like a dying chicken but Nat couldn't care less. She began throwing and slamming her body against the door, leaving bruises and scrapes from head to toe. "Sssttteeeevvvvveeeeee...uhuhu...please...answer me! ANSWER ME!" Surprising even herself a hysterical sob sprang from her lungs as she gasped for air whilst still shouting.

Again and Again. Boom! Bang! Slap! Nat slammed her body until her eyes felt heavy and stars clouded her vision.

The sound of a soul being dragged from a soundless and helpless silhouette wrapped around her, her pain and scream was everywhere she looked. Cold fingers scratched against her tongue, dragging the horas sound from her chest; she was on fire.

She lost the energy to be beaten by his door again, Natasha fell to the floor. Tears burned against her cheeks, her voice was crushed until it was a whisper even Nat struggled to hear "Steve, I need you."

No response. Romanoff stayed crumpled against the door, crying way into the afternoon when school was over and the remaining avengers returned to find her shaking in the cold, tear stains on her cheeks as shred sobs rain from her chin, searching for a home.  
Wordlessly Clint lifted her into his arms and carried Tasha to her room, he stayed with her, hugging and rubbing her arm. Trying to keep her warm until she was asleep and that's when he left her.

When Natasha woke in the middle of the night screaming, she felt cuddles of possible future company collapse to her crumbling form, taunting her mercilessly. No matter how hard Natasha tried the piercing icicles of isolation still impaled her skin.  
Out of the intruding shadows Natasha could have sworn she spied a pair of observing orbs watching her; sky blue. But as soon as she sat forward they were gone and the tears were thicker and hotter, scolding her pale skin.

From then on Romanoff didn't sleep; she didn't want to even tempt the clouds of destructive pain to spin across her dreams; raining tears of blood.  
After an infinity of deafening silence it was morning and Clint returned, his eyes wistful as he saw the eerie shadow of sleep privation hanging under her eyes; dark circles envelope the watering orbs. Her body shaking despite the many many blankets. Her skin was taunt and her facial features looked skeletal, Natasha's pale complexion betrayed her usual haunting beauty and resembled that of a ghost.

Barton didn't even attempt to bribe her to school, he just reached forward, placing a placid kiss to her temple and swiftly leaving, he quickly returned with a tray carrying her favourite pity snakes, though they both knew she'd eat none. After another kiss, this time on the cheek, Clint left, closing the door firmly behind him.

Natasha was alone.


	6. Pushing past pain

As the day ticked on, each second dragging a new instrument of torture across Nat's body, Romanoff's anger grew; like the time she wasted. It all mounted up, she still felt like shit but that wasn't her biggest concern; Steve. Even though her feelings towards him shouldn't be the biggest issue during this mission; it was.  
Natasha had known Fury for a while now, although her history with him wasn't nearly as long as Barton's Nat felt it was deeper. Clint had always been a solitary guy and therefore he'd also been able to categorise his emotions; a habit Natasha had later inherited.

However in the first few months of her rescue she had never even experienced an emotion so strong as regret or guilt or shame. The Red room had evaporated any chance of that interfering with their perfect assassin from the moment she was born, but being removed from such hostile and stoic environments and replaced in a just as stoic but less refined hostile atmosphere, known as SHIELD, had caused some trauma.  
Natasha had been interrogated thoroughly and during those taunting hours SHIELD had thrown her into a washing machine of emotions, testing her and questioning her; the Red Room had been good in preparing her for this, but SHIELD was better.

And it was hard to not fall and crumble when you were investigated by the best, the one and only Nick Fury.

From then onwards a bond had been formed, neither person had noticed nor labelled that bond. Not even now, when they were well past unasked questions and non-existent answers, had they noticed the relationship; the spies had just let it continue to grow.

It was times like this when that bond would be tested, if Fury knew where Natasha was and what had shattered her, the horrifying sense of disappointment would flood his eye and consume the intimidated spy. But Tasha couldn't help it, Rogers' just had this ability to reach into her senseless mask and pull something else out.

At the moment Romanoff's biggest concern _should_ be the mission, leaving James like that...was dangerous. Natasha had been separated from him for too long to be certain of his interpretation of the events of yesterday, James was just as unpredictable as when she'd first met him.  
Natasha was trying to turn the sinking feeling in her stomach to anticipation for resealing yet another crack she'd caused between her and Barnes, but this time it would take a lot more than a swift lie and kiss to fix the mess her spinning emotions had mustered up.

Yet Romanoff couldn't even form a seed of an idea on how to do that without first and foremost engaging with Steve. Her annoyance at him ebbed mainly from herself, had she just opened her supposedly perceptive eyes a little wider this whole thing could have easily been avoided. She didn't know how...but it just could of.  
She would have spoken to him, gathered her wits and maybe they could have concluded their feelings for each other, _but what would that have evolved to?  
\- A relationship?  
\- A declaration of love?  
Or more pain..._

At least then they would have known where they stood, not as many lines would have been crossed and Steve wouldn't have fought James. - Another fuel for the angry fire, how many frickin times was this mission going to be compromised because of a stupid range of emotions!  
Had Nat not stepped in when she had, God knows what would have happened between them two. Steve could have revealed something, some extra information that he wasn't meant to know about Natasha's past or God forbid called him Bucky.

That would have been heart breaking. . . . . .

As it was the situation was treacherous enough.

Gradually, Natasha lifted her quivering body from the bed and after steading herself on her tingling feet she made her way to the lounge. During her journey she walked past Rogers' room, she stopped herself. The door was still shut and she saw how beaten and knackered the paint looked; her eyes momentarily travelled down her body; so that's what she'd done.  
Natasha was so tempted to try the handle, but she didn't know how she'd react if it was locked.

He'd officially shut Nat out, for once she wasn't the one holding up the defences. For the briefest second Natasha pondered whether he was actually in there, as desperate as she was to know, Romanoff was too terrified of what the answer was and therefore what that answer would entail.  
If he wasn't in there; either he was completely fine and not bothered at all by Nat's ruthless attempts to get the door open, no matter how much a price her body paid. Or he hadn't been there at all, which was doubtful because he'd driven home in Thor's jeep yesterday - which Natasha had hit - and where else would he go?  
But if he was in there; she'd hurt him to the point where he couldn't even leave his room and who knows what he'd do to her if he saw her and it also meant her heart would forever wept at the coldness of his plain ignorance.

Romanoff could not face a shield of pain like she'd cast her eyes on yesterday, a spotlight flashed on Widow as she blew away the daunting decisions and continued on her eventful descend to the lounge.

She stopped once seeing Bruce; he was laying on the couch, his eyes glazed over and a frown line frozen in place. His skin was fairly pale instead of his peachy complexion. "Bruce?" Suddenly he pelted forwards as a feminine gasp escaped his clenched jaw, his hand went to his temples as he saw it was Nat. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." Usually she would have teased him about this sort of reaction but today...was not a usual day for Natasha.

Banner lifted his feet up giving her room to perch on the couch; she only just managed to sit on the arm of the chair, feeling forlorn and sorrowful. But when her eyes returned to Bruce's clouded vision she stopped feeling sorry for herself. "Hey, why aren't you in school today?" She tried to sound friendly but her voice ended up just sounding robot and as stoic as JARVIS' latest notifications.

Bruce sighed, leaning against the couch more than necessary "Oh nothing, I just...wasn't up for facing chem today." Nat gawked at him "Really? A science nerd not wanting to go to a science lesson? What the hell is going..." Banner instantly held his hands up "I don't wanna talk about it Tasha..." Desperate for something to take her mind of the pain in her chest she kept trying until he said "You know I could just ask you the exact same and...nothing...I bet you wouldn't tell me a dang thing either."

Romanoff rolled her head back, stretching out and just because he said she wouldn't Natasha did, she sunk off the arm chair and fell onto the actual seat, pulling her feet up behind her. Abruptly cautious Banner informed "You don't actually have to tell me, Nat! I was just trying to make a point...sorry" Tasha gulped, grateful for the opening.

"Well it's not exactly difficult to guess, all you need to do is take a look at me, remember last night...no Steve, me outside Rogers'" it hurt to say his name "door and boom! You basically know what...is what." Bruce gave her an apologetic shrug "Mine's not exactly rock science either" Natasha almost attempted a joke about rock science when she put the pieces together "Bruce...are you being...er...bullied?" His flinch was confirmation enough and she immediately starting throwing questions left right and centre.

 _Who  
When  
Where  
How  
Why_

But all Banner did was hold up his hands and say "I really don't want any more trouble...it's nothing I can't handle and if you'll excuse me." Nat abruptly felt useless, here she was; practically destroying the mission before it had even began, wrecking a perfectly good friendship, causing herself enough physical and mental pain to deserve a room in an asylum and now pushing away her only friends.

 _Was there anything she could do?_

Bruce obviously saw the dead look in her envy green eyes because he stopped himself, before getting off the couch he took her hand and said "I'm sorry Natasha" and then left.

Once again Natasha Romanoff was alone, with nothing but the company of self-depicting, merciless taunting and a wound big enough to drain all will from her very body, like blood. Her masks were falling wildly without order and the true self-harming pain stabbed her endlessly, reopening wounds and burning scars.  
 _The Black Widow was breaking..._


	7. Withdrawn

A week went by, a whole week.  
7 days  
168 hours  
12096 minutes  
604800 seconds  
Of a mission was spent as an insignificant droplet in the ocean of despair.

Her pain hadn't - and was nowhere near - healed, Natasha feared it never would.  
Nevertheless she couldn't waste any more of their limited time, so Nat returned to school to discover that Steve already had. He wouldn't look at her shadow let alone anything else so her chance to try and amend...this...were small than Barton's arrows.

Rogers wasn't the only one blending into the shadows, Tasha was desperately trying to hide from James. Fearful for things to continue, she knew she had to, but Nat was determined to resist for as long as possible without compromising the mission further than it already was.  
The good news was Natasha was slowly crawling back to her old snarky humour, when she began confiding in Clint she even let a comment slip out about how out of all of them she suspected Stark to endanger their cover.  
But there was still a long way to go and every eerie silence, every shift in the darkness, every glimmer of sunlight brought it all back and Romanoff was pushed further backwards.

Nat was afraid things would never pick up, that this mission would never end. But things swiftly turned a corner and for some reason, Romanoff would most likely never know, Steve started sitting solemnly with the avengers again. He didn't talk and hardly ate, but he was there, that was enough for her now.  
One lunch time all the team were assembled, except Bruce, and conversation was rare. Stark had started inviting countless girls to sit with them, all of which lasted for a day and then a new girl would arrive, today was a girl with strawberry blonde hair, blue eyes and her skin was peppered with freckles, her name was Pepper Potts.

Despite Tony's obvious and slightly desperate attempts to impress her the girl seemed un-phased, Nat immediately liked her and the girls began conversing quietly when a loud thump caused a shiver to run down Romanoff's spin. She shifted, and spied a shadowed corner, instantly she stood and raced, her teammates following her with their eyes.

Natasha gasped at the sight before her, Bruce was shoved against the brick wall, and his resistance failing as the suffocating laughter from the bullies filled the air. The leader, who Tasha recognised as Pietro Maximoff, went to lift Banner of his shaking feet but Natasha pushed herself forwards. Snarling and flashing her clenched jaw, "LEAVE HIM ALONE"

The hysterical men crouched forwards in fits of provoking chuckles, Nat froze her eyes absorbing the heartless faces of Banner's bullies, Barnes was among them. He swiftly moved towards her, he looked at her fondly but a glimmer of pain and doubt blinded her senses as his hands fastened around the top of her thighs, suddenly he lifted her up and then dropped her coldly.  
Though the action was small, barely anything and shouldn't have phased her, Natasha felt violated, like he'd abused her; that on its own was a threat.

Her momentary pause seemed to read to Pietro to continue hurting her friend, fast as a flash Bruce was lifted. Nat pounced, her fist connecting with Maximoff's jaw. Acting more from surprise than pain he dropped Banner, Nat took that as step to further defend Banner; not from the bullies, from himself; the hulk.

As her hands pounded, just like they had against Steve's door, endlessly the rest of the group went to attack her. But her team were there suddenly, holding them back. A fierce battle was unfolding, out of the red Natasha froze, her arms uselessly in mid-air; Wanda stared from the shadows, protecting her brother. A second later she was free from her piercing restraint, but that was all Pietro needed to regain control.  
Quickly Nat was thrown against the wall, her head connecting with full force. The damp feeling of blood ran through her fingertips.

A growl escaped her lips and she tackled Pietro, but firm hands interlaced around her waist, furiously Nat's raw hues tumbled into the blank and bottomless orbs of Maximoff twins. _Wanda's shadow wrapped tightly around her, like a thick blanket, she was everywhere Nat looked._

 _Before her was a young girl with hair the colour of blood and eyes as green as envy. She was dancing, ballet; her body was aching with the pain of pushing herself. An expectant hush rushed from the girl, Natasha heard nothing but her own blood roaring in her ears, the sound sliced through the silence._

 _Deafening screams were pulled from her throat by icy fingers, scratching in the wind, clawing for pain. The young girl fell to a bed full of blood, she had vividly grown, frozen breath exploded her mouth, and the ancient yearning for relief was embedded in her genes. But none came. The impulse to cry overwhelmed the girl as a knife sharpened across her skin, waves of whimpering wails whisked from her body._

"NATASHA!" Her name repeated in her head, the temporary call blunt the effect of excruciating pain, but then it returned.

 _The girl was now a woman, her face possessed the same deadly beauty that belonged to the Black Widow, surrounding her were pictures, of her friends; the avengers. She saw them all, without her, happy.  
Every piece of doubt or unhappiness that harassed their lives came from her. She poisoned them all, mostly Barton and Rogers. Then the girl turned and crashed between torment and remorse, before her were the bodies of all her avengers, they all looked up at her. Their faces resembled the masks of pain they experienced before their untimely deaths._

"NATASHA!" Romanoff collapsed forwards, her soul filled with dread and her body trembled with pain. A blatant light glazed her eyes and she was momentary blind, a second later Natasha looked up to see her avengers gathered above her. They looked down at her with confusion and a thick layer of worry plastered like sweat to their shiny skin, Banner smiled from the corner. He looked vulnerable and weak; obviously he wasn't thrilled that he had to be rescued, but grateful none the less.

Barton's hand outstretched to Nat, she stared at him for a while before refusing to take it and running into the school building. Ignoring the blaring bawling from Barton, she charged into the girls toilets and froze. The unshed tears that threatened to burst her curtain of seclude were sucked back as she stared at the scene before her; Peggy Carter was lying limply on the ground, her trembling shoulders resting in Wanda's sympathetic hug. Carter was sobbing dramatically and before the girls had taken notice of Romanoff's presence Nat caught the phrase "I thought he loved me..."

Wanda's wary watchful eyes chased Nat from the bathroom where she ran straight into James' chest, his hands came to her shoulders. Panicked Nat back peddled and Barton's hand caught her arm "Nat are you okay...?" She shook her head fiercely, she was encircled. The avengers to her right, Bucky, Pietro and now Wanda - slowly advancing - to her left.  
Natasha's eyes danced vigorously, she was a crazed animal, encaged and tormented by her surrounding predators.

Wanda stepped up from the group, her fingers flickering franticly. Spirals of red fled from the fumbling features and enveloped Natasha, her breathing intensified and she desperately tried to break free.

Outside of her captured circle Thor, Banner and Stark were desperately yelling and screaming at Wanda, whilst Barton and Rogers were tediously engaged in a tense fist-fight with Pietro - who was protecting his sister - meanwhile James had managed to break the circle and was calling to Nat "Come to me Talia, I can help you...but you've got to trust me."

Out of the blue, Rogers managed to move past Pietro and knock Wanda off her feet, Natasha was free and ran forwards her body falling into Thor's protective arms as he lifted her and ran outside.

Seconds later the rest of the team were gathered around her, cautiously anticipating another fight. Nobody spoke to her, or maybe she didn't hear them. Romanoff was shaking rapidly.

* * *

Steve stared helplessly at Natasha; she was terrified, clearly baffled and ambivalent. All he wanted to do was wrap her up in his arms, but it was obvious that touch wouldn't be welcome - by anyone - particularly Steve.

Without warning he was suddenly taken back to that evening. _The evening.  
Desperate hands battered ceaselessly against his door, every knock made his body shiver. **Get up! Go...** His mind screamed to answer...but he couldn't...if he looked into her eyes and saw his own pain reflected he might never be able to turn it off.  
"Steve...!" She screamed, instantly Rogers' hunched forwards in his concealed ball on the floor, her screams were sonic booms in his ears. **Answer her you idiot!** To no avail._

 _Natasha...hurt him, more than he believed possible.  
It was too much, his body couldn't function, Steve Rogers - the super soldier - couldn't cope with this level of pain. Every injury he'd ever endured drowned his body, both physically and mentally. On their own, he could heal...but all together, every wound went unhealed. All striking, never stopping.  
"Sssssttttteeeeeevvvvvveeeeee...PLEASE." Her sobs sent hysteria through his body, he began shaking on the floor, images flashed across his vision._

 ** _This was what he didn't want! If he was hurting her before anything had actually begun imagine the pain he'd inflict if they were officially together..._**

 _Bail rose in his throat at the thought, he couldn't do that to her. He wouldn't..._

 _His own sobs were drowned out by the vibration of her body hitting his door again and again, **Stop! Please stop...**_

 _Steve was furious with himself... **What was he doing?** He'd pushed her away and now...he couldn't undo that. He was too afraid he'd keep hurting her...  
...if she really liked Bucky, as much as Steve hated it, he wasn't...he couldn't stand in their way._

 _Suffering silently Steve's body rocked back and forth late into the night, hating himself and needing pain...needing her to look at him with hatred, with regret with loathing...at least then his pain of guilt could be forgotten and replaced with one of malice from the one person he **loved**. _

"Rogers?" Steve shook away the reverie and stared at Stark "You coming?" the team were heading for the car park, this was definitely more important than remaining a perfect - fake - high school attendance.

* * *

Once they'd all arrived home Stark went to sort out addressing the school and updating Fury, Banner left for his room instantly - feeling slightly at blame - Thor headed for the kitchen and resumed eating, Barton escorted Natasha to her room and Steve headed for the garage - where a long line of punching bags waited patiently for him.

Hours later - and many destroyed and leaking sand bags - Steve returned to his room, the house was sound asleep or silently suffering through secret nightmares, Steve couldn't decide.

He was just about to close his door, shutting off the outside world when he heard a muffled sob.

Without a shadow of a doubt, Steve ran to her door and knocked twice. "Natasha...?"

Silently seconds pass where Steve's breathing slows as his heart beats louder and louder in his chest... _please_ , _I didn't let you comfort me but let me help you...please..._

The door opened...


	8. I try

**Really really sorry for the late update, but it is after all the summer holidays (despite the disagreeing weather) so I have tried to keep busy due to my sudden empty time, sadly that's not included as much writing as I would hope. But I'll try to make it up to you all!**

Natasha was a wrecked master piece; her buoyance curls were crinkled and limp, her red lips were dry and bitten raw, pale skin was replaced with a layer of pasty grey and verdant orbs were strained, smudged veins of dead vines.  
As soon as Steve saw Romanoff his heart plummeted, whatever Wanda had done...what _Steve_ had done was agonizing to watch, unbearable to feel.

"Nat..." What could he say? What was there that could make this situation any better?  
At the sound of her name in his frigid lips Romanoff curled forward, the shock of such a tender wave coming from Steve must have surprised her to the point of pain, immediately Natasha recoils as Rogers backs away.

"Wait...Steve..." Instantly Steve ran forwards and grabbed her in an intense hug; at first Tasha was stiff in his arms but soon eased into it. Finally they pulled away and before either could fully grab their breathe Steve charged into an explanation "I'm really sorry...about everything. Mostly the other night, I...I...er...should have answered, but I couldn't face you and then by the time I knew I needed to...it was too late...I didn't want to hurt you further...and...I know it sounds like I'm making lots of excuses but...truthfully...I was scared of getting hurt and seeing how much I'd hurt you I knew just looking at you would make my heart crumble..." Steve could a deep breath "I know...you'll never truly forgive me and look at me the same... but I'm so sorry for hurting you..."

Natasha fell backwards, if Steve hadn't been quick enough to catch her luckily the bed was behind her, still she sat comfortably in his embrace. Reluctantly he let her go; "Steve...I know, honestly I deserve what I got..." Fury fuelled Rogers' determination, his head shook desperately "Noooo...you don't Natasha...you really don't...don't do that to yourself, DON'T do that to ME! Please..." a cry was captured from his throat and he kneeled before her, his hands gripping her knees.

Nat stared forlornly down at him, her fingers reaching for his chin "Steve...thank you, so much. But that wasn't what I was talking about..." Steve instinctually leap next to her, his hands never leaving her knees "What's going on?"  
She gapped uncontrollable at me, her eyes never straying "When Wanda..." She struggled to find the words "violated my thoughts...when she got inside my head...I saw something, the P...p-pain I have caused and will cause." Natasha gulped at the seemingly thick and vanishing air "I understand why you separated yourself from me,  
(- I'm the sun..." He stared at her perplexed. "At a distance I'm warming and beautiful, but...when you're around me too long I'll burn you and eventually, when you get too close..." she stared off into the distance, as if staring out a window "the pain will be too much. - " Steve stared helplessly at Natasha, clawing for relief)  
"and now...I actually ask you to. I don't wanna hurt you..."  
Romanoff stood to reopen the door, Steve knew once he stepped outside, there was no coming back. He couldn't let it get that far "No!" In her tortured green hues he saw a tint of the same fiery passion that drove the old Natasha Romanoff, trying to come back to him. "Steve...I don't want to hurt you..."

"I'm not letting you push me away, ok. You can't deal with this alone..." Her tone was harder than iron blocks "I've done it before, and I'm not going to ask you, again."

Out of nowhere Natasha grabbed Steve's arm and made as if to push him out, but Rogers spun to avoid the doorway, hitting the wall instead. Her voice was urgently quiet "I don't want to hurt you..."

Steve growled "You're hurting me now!" All her pesters and weak attempts to be alone fell like rain "Please, Natasha..." A single tear threatened to break the boundaries her verdant orbs were putting up, in a second she spun and sank against the wall, her head rolling backwards, her eyelids taunt. "I want to be more than this...this monster who pushes people away. But I don't know how to let people in, at least the ones I have...were too terrified to look at me the same way."

"Maybe you haven't found the right person yet, " Steve ventured, knowing he'd get shut down instantly. "Ahahaha...fair enough, but I can't even check. If I did and they were the wrong person...I've lost them." The words she didn't...couldn't say had never been louder _If I let you in...and you were the wrong person...I've lost you..._

"Well that's a risk I'm willing to take." Suddenly Steve spun, until his body was pressed against Natasha, her breath fire on his skin. "Are you?" Her lips were the best Yes he'd ever experienced in his whole life. Their eyes were glazed by the shadow of shear passion and light as the kiss deepened, Nat opening up to Steve and leading him, letting his body experiment. They were both too stunned to do anything other than let the depressed emotions erupt from their bodies, driving and urging each other forward. A need, to be this close, this open...and Natasha relished in the feeling.

* * *

From that moment onwards everything had fallen into perspective; the avengers were happy, settling back into a normal rhythm and it wasn't just the soldier and spy who'd discovered an unlikely romance; Thor had stumbled - literally - onto Jane Foster, one of the brainiest kids at this school and soon fallen madly in love. Stark and Pepper had also developed a very dynamic relationship, though neither would admit how deeply they felt for the other.

So now that the bubbly teenagers had discovered love's enchanting web they had to get down to work; they were on a mission after all. "So, Barnes is a no no?" Stark eyed the cosy couple at the side of the dinner table, all avengers were assembled after being called to a last minute-before school meeting. "That still leaves, the Maximoffs, and...Carter? Or is she too risky?" Nat glared at Tony, the last thing Romanoff wanted to do was try and get comfy with Peggy Carter.

"How do you plan to become friends with the same twins who single handily disturbed one of the best spies in the world?" Thor's booming voice struck the silence like a knife. "I think I know a way...but we'd need SHIELD's help." Barton sat forwards and then answered all the questioning looks. "We appeal to their protective nature, maybe cause enough commotion to start a fight..."

Steve bit his lip "I don't see how that would get them to spill..."  
Barton interrupted "It wouldn't...but, it would help gain their trust and therefore lead to them spilling."

Romanoff considered this and had to put it out there "Or we could just plan out interrogate them?" Steve's hand took hers "No, it would be too dangerous." Nat sniggered, but squeezed his hand nonetheless and then Stark posed another suggestion "Are you sure we couldn't try with Barnes?"

Steve and Natasha stared at each other, before Steve faced Tony and said "What do you have in mind?" The cheekiest smile spread like butter on hot toast across Stark's face as he interlaced his fingers and revealed his master plan.

* * *

Registration had just finished, next the group had gym class, the team were assembled outside going over last minute plans; this plan mostly involved Steve and Natasha and would definitely affect them the most. Still they were doing this for the team and last night they'd spent a lot of time talking about their relations to James.  
They were ok...if they were going to be ok with this, this would be the closest they'd come to it. Finally the bell went.

Their hands linked and Nat smiled up at Rogers "You sure about this? There are other ways, you know." Cap nodded "It's about time we get this mission moving, just remember...you're my girl." A grin wider than Steve's broad shoulders moulded on her beautiful face and she embraced Steve in a eye-catching kiss before dashing off to change for gym class.

That lesson they were working on team work, fighting crimes and solving missions and what not - this gym class was definitely different to that of any other school - Natasha was paired with Rogers and their mission went purposely bad, resulting in the pair yelling at each other at the end of the lesson and Barton loudly commented on their bad partnership. Which gave Natasha the cue to state that "Things hadn't been going well recently."

It was after lunch when things would hopefully pick up, but at the moment it was break and Nat was just making her way to the girls' bathroom when out of the crowd of moulding teenagers their gym coach materialized.  
"Nice stuff today Romanoff, shame about Rogers letting you down though." Nat almost couldn't hold back the sly smile threatening to capture her cheeks. Finally! It was about bloody time their coach approached her about joining the programme, the team had debated many times how much more challenging this gym class was compared to others from different high schools; they always came to one explanation; they were in fact infiltrating the school and spying for possible new recruits.

"Thank you sir, I couldn't agree more. Maybe if I just had a better partner..." a few significant droplets of prodding and hinting ran from the cloud of speech mind.  
A light bald shinned brightly from his grey eyes "Well Barnes is always an option, I recon you two would work well together." Natasha couldn't contain the thrill of successfully trapping a Hydra trainer. "Well sir, I don't think that would be possible to happen in school, you see Rogers' is quite possessive so he'd never let me work with someone else. Especially someone who has so much potential as James."

A vanquished expression formed on his wrinkled face;  
A broken thread in a crumbled sheet of cotton.

Then the realisation kicked in, Natasha saw the waves of words crashing against the inside of his skull.  
 _Happen  
school  
possessive  
potential  
Rogers  
James  
_"You know, Romanoff, I could organize a private class if that's what you would like?" Natasha beamed at the stupidly naïve coach "Only if you have the time sir, but I really think it would help me progress further..."

The last word danced in the sudden eerie silence as the teacher speculated in joy, he believes he's made another break through.

"Well, truthfully I don't have enough time to give you and Barnes a private lesson..." Nat's smile faulted "But, I do have an advanced class I teach where we focus on...harder, more challenging things, in more detail...sort of like a club."  
Nat's steady stance shifted into a stoic stand, the end; of this mission, of the lies and secrecy, were in sight; just at the end of the tunnel, which for too long had been filled with demons of darkness and merciless monsters. But out of the shadows crept a tint of blond light; a promise, declaration, a smile, a shield.

"Who's in this...club, sir?" His eyes swept to the right of his vision "Barnes, Maximoff 1 & 2, Carter and several others." Nat couldn't hold her tongue "1 & 2? But Wanda doesn't do gym, sir." For a lingering second Coach's eyes were piercing, before softening ever so slightly "It's protocol Romanoff, gym isn't the aspect our...club...focuses on. But that is the part I'd like you to focus on now, we still need to see if you're...up to the standard."

A pleasing smile folded before coach as Natasha's hand was shaken firmly "Name the time and place, Coach."

* * *

"It's finally happened!" Natasha's cry of happiness bounced off the quiet walls of the cafeteria - Steve and Thor were both absent, purposely holding James and Pietro up at the toilets hopefully - "What's going on Red?" Stark bonded over, eager to conceal any dangerous secrets in front of Pepper. Nat responded immediately to his narrowing eyes "Oh Pepper, I was meaning to talk to you about out sociology assignment." The two girls instantly headed off to the toilets as Rogers and Odinson strolled into the scene, followed by a scowling James. Romanoff and Steve were persistent to avoid eye-contact, and then brown eyes followed the stalking girls as Tasha shared a interested glance with James.

Soon the girls were assembled in the bathroom and Natasha groaned inwardly, inviting Potts' inquisitively friendly nature. "Nat is everything alright?"  
Snowy skin blended into surprisingly clean sinks as Romanoff leaned her weight forward, out of the corner of her eye Widow spied Carter applying thick blood to her lying lips. Tasha could have sworn Peggy's ears lifted as Nat expanded her foraged discomfort. "Nothing...it's just, me and Steve haven't exactly been getting on very..." Nat gaped, her eyes double taking as Peggy's presence became clearer in the room "Actually, let's talk about this later Peps. I...er...just remembered I have to hand in my Russian essay."  
It was more than visible that Natasha DID _n't_ want Peggy to hear about her relationship problems as she stormed out of the girls' toilets, coherent was the only fitting word to describe the sly smirk splitting Carter's impassive reflection.

* * *

The day was in full swing and the wind had blown the minutes further until the relieving lunch bell rang clearly in Natasha's ears. Hurriedly she ran to her locker, luckily adjacent to Bucky and Steve's history class. He came out first and walked up to her, his tone firm and sturdy, he wasn't backing down.  
"Nat what's this I heard about you saying..."

Pietro interjected "I wasn't good in bed?" A cattle of chuckles chased the huddled pair. James placed his hand on his friends' chest, easing him down "Pietro! You know Steve's too cowardly to sleep with Tal-Natasha!" and then building him back up.

Steve's jaw tightened, his fists clenched as he swerved to face the hysterical group. Nat's passive arms took Steve's shoulders, trying to turn him "Steve...ignore them..."  
"Yes Stevie! Listen to the smart gurl." Pietro winked, licking his lips in Nat's direction; he was walking on thin ground. Even if it was part of the plan; Steve wouldn't hold back if Maximoff said something about Nat.  
Rogers' body was hot in Romanoff's hands, tense muscles strained under his shirt and a fierce turn left Nat's arms empty with stifling air.

Steve stepped forwards and Bucky teased "I thought we didn't like getting physical, right Natty?" He winked and continued to pester the huffing Steve; if Rogers' was Banner he would have already shifted into the hulk, but Romanoff feared something worse was stirring inside him.  
"But don't worry Stevie, I'm sure Romanoff was satisfied beyond normal once I was through with her." Another wink in Nat's direction was responded with a growl from both Widow and Cap. "But you know, if you're ever in the need of comfort...my door's always open." He pitied her with his eyes and that alone sent Steve charging forwards, everything suddenly felt so much more real.  
 _Maybe this plan was too risky and close to heart..._

Widow was fast as a flash, stepping between the advancing males, her back to Barnes. "Steve look at me...don't" Nat could only dread to think what exotically inappropriate hand gestures James was making for Steve to fling her to the side and charge at Barnes, a cloud of ferocious fists and frantic feet knocked Nat against the lockers. Instantly she charged forwards yelling at the boys to stop, but Pietro appeared quickly and grabbed her from behind, holding her hands at her waist.  
But his superb strength didn't stop Nat from struggling.

All around them was a band of teenagers desperately clawing for entertainment began chanting "Fight! Fight! Fight!" Nat's eyes locked with Carter's, she was standing in the centre of the crowd, hands on hips looking like she owned the frickin globe. _You'll pay for this bitch!_ Even if it was part of the plan; it was too absolute to feel safe, too much of this was personal; real feels were being tied and knotted, _why did I agree to this?_

 _Oh right, because you're a stupid bitch! How could I forget...?_

Suddenly the remotely arrogant staff took notice of their surroundings and after pain enduring seconds the fight was brutally carried off to the principle; if this school was infiltrated the likelihood is that Barnes will be let off easy and Rogers' will get the blame, but at least Steve will take away a look at the leader of this infiltration; as well as a few dark bruises. Making this risk worthwhile, _I hope._

Finally Nat felt the shadow of Pietro's arms lift off her shaking shoulders, the hallway was empty with the cold air of isolation mocking Natasha's sinking form, and the ground hit her all too quickly and painfully.  
Hallways flooded with the tears shred from the staggering soul of the supposedly senseless spy.

 **There we go, I'm hoping to have the next chapter out sooner than this one and please review! Xxx**


	9. Following through

Thick, heavy sweltering streams ran from the circular gaps in the regularly passive cliff; which now resembled that of a waterfall.

Natasha hadn't moved, it was last period and she was most liking going to get in a bucket load of trouble from her Russian teacher. But at the moment she was too overloaded with tears to give a shit about that.  
Natasha was too sullen to give a shit about _anything._

Even how she looked at this precise moment, nonetheless; the hauntingly piercing stares and sneers affected Romanoff more than she hoped. Soon the corridors were once again deserted, and then feet so stealth like, to anyone else you wouldn't have noticed them, but Nat's emotional state didn't affect her abilities.

Instantly a tender hand; meaning no harm, reached for hers. She refused, wanting to shove herself further into the floor, slowly Bucky sat, turning towards her.  
Romanoff had to fight the desire to be held; by anybody, anyone who would hold her. She craved Steve's touch most, but given James' appearance Tasha guessed Rogers' was still getting his arse handed to him. Plus, _she needed to do this._

A sick feeling of suspense stared down the former ending tunnel, which was now narrowing; soon it would be suffocating her.  
Avoiding Nat's attempts to distance herself from James, his slender fingers interlaced with hers; despite her hesitance she didn't fight for freedom.

"Don't touch what will soon sting you too." Tasha's pleads fell on selective hearing.  
"Who've you stung, Natalia?" She tried to conceal the flinch at her...at the Black Widow's birth name.  
"Everybody; you, Steve...things haven't been working well lately. I need an out!"

James' hand tightened suddenly, he was going to give her an out. "I have a proposition...but I don't think you're in the right mind set to, accept or deny it."

Quickly he stood up, smiled down at her and then...was absorbed by the shadows. Once she was certain he was gone Natasha ran, she ignored the busy car park as students - and teachers - raced to be the first to leave.  
It was at least a mile and a half from the house, but Tasha was home in no time. Not surprised to see Stark, Steve and Barton had beaten her to it, her embrace was rushed with Rogers as the joy of James' latest offer, or more promise of a future offer, escaped her lips; just as Thor and Bruce walked in.  
 _Finally! It looks like we're getting somewhere..._

However, their reactions were somewhat disappointing and varied:  
Thor began jumping up and down, the vibrations from his pounding feet carrying furniture with him,  
Stark raised his hand, not picking up the dark atmosphere as quickly as Romanoff, waiting for a high-five, which he didn't receive.  
Banner and Barton were sharing mixed feelings, proud of the break through, but anticipating a longer journey to the light at the end of the tunnel.  
Whereas Steve...for the first time Nat was really struggling to interpret his mood; his teeth were gritted and his jaw set. But he seemed to have a half smile on his face, his eyes were glazed and withdrawn, off in another reverie. His forehead crinkled with lines of concentration, but he wasn't frowning.  
He almost looked sorrowful.

"Steve, what's going on?" He didn't answer straight away, instead he slowly sat down; for once revealing an image of potential weakness; resembling his actual age during his long descent.  
"I've been momentarily excluded from school, but that's not the worst news...  
Fury called, he said our deadline is quickly approaching and at the moment we have nothing to show for our investigation. This mission is so close to being proved pointless..."

Thor's high suddenly dropped to the tempo of the room as his Asgardian interpretations caught up with the Midgardians' always wavering emotions. "But...Natasha has been invited to join Hydra. Is this not enough evidence?"

Barton's arms folded sharply "Technically, we don't know what Romanoff has been invited to."  
Steve continued "Which is why it's so dangerous, I don't think you should attend."

Stark's sigh of protest covered Tasha's squeal "Cap you're complaining because we have no evidence for our mission, but now you're denying Red the chance to gain evidence? Tell me how you think that's fair, old man?"

Steve crept along the path of uncertainty "Because..."  
Romanoff's tongue was just as sharp as a knife, she struck the explanation away. "NO." The daring eyes swerved to face Natasha, the Black Widow was seeping out, about to conceal Romanoff completely. "I'm meeting them. I have to, guys...we're so close to leaving this...damn place behind. But you won't let me take the first step towards it? That's bullsh-"

Steve's tone punched back just as hard "Nat!" He was not in the mood for arguing, but Tasha wasn't backing down. _How could she ignore the growing light from the end of the tunnel?_ The end of their suffering; Steve's suffering.

But being the intuitive spy she was, Nat knew she'd need a different approve. Anger couldn't win a war, strategy and reason was the best weapon any army could wield. "Look Steve, I know it's dangerous. But we all knew this mission had risks from the beginning, if you had a problem with it you should have told Fury all those weeks ago.  
But you didn't.  
Because you know we can handle this, for Gods' sake we've fought an army from another realm before! And I've been in a lot worse situations before...I can handle it. The question is, will you trust me to?"

* * *

Testing his loyalty and faith in his own team; in Natasha, was a bold and strong move. Rogers' knew he couldn't respond without giving her cause to claim their own leader didn't believe in them, Steve wouldn't stand for that.  
But he also couldn't give her a valuable explanation, anything he'd be able to fathom would reveal his true feelings towards her; although Nat and Steve had a very open relationship - you had to in this industry - Cap knew, without a doubt, Nat would take any personal concern for her safety as more of a reason to prove him wrong.  
Everybody knows Tasha can take care of herself, but Steve was _with_ her now and that meant his protective and, dare he admit it, possessive nature was only going to intensify.

Defeat radiating off Steve like a powerful odour he caved "Fine, but...we're planning this out properly. I want ears and eyes all over the shop."

* * *

Nat was right about one thing, Steve was dead serious.  
After she'd revealed that the meeting Coach had invited her to was the next Wednesday (two days from now) Rogers' and Stark had gone into full battle mode.

Steve using his experience from World War 2, Nat could clearly have seen him in a heated room filled with generals and soldiers, demonstrating his skill, intelligence and ability. Whereas Stark was helping neaten up the edges, using the correct terminology for digital devices and pointing out that they didn't need to do much more than set up a few cameras and microphones.

It was now later in the evening and Romanoff was tired, but her curiosity and need to see Steve was overwhelming. Nat found herself opening his door before closing her own, she rushed inside meaning to double check the plans for the day after tomorrow and check he was okay with everything…but what she saw extinguished that idea.  
He had just gotten out of the shower, his skin golden and damp, droplets of attraction were still on his soft skin, a towel was tided - somewhat loosely - around his strong waist.

Natasha's face was warm with a welcomed blush;  
white paper tinted with patches of red crayon.

Romanoff made to turn away when Steve's eyes reached hers, his ears darkened to a bright pink at being admired.

"Sorry, I'll come back...later." Nat was scared to move, scared of what would happen if she did move; would he stop her? Scared of what would happen if she didn't move; would he force her to?

Eventually the decision was taken out of her hands; Steve said "No, you can stay." a little quicker than average. Swiftly his cheeks flushed as his skin was flooded with red, hot embarrassment.  
Natasha turned, sharing a coy smile with him.

Her hands felt heavy and numb by her sides, suddenly noticing them. Nat needed to do something with them, she felt they were drawing attention; idly they folded in her pockets. Now she felt awkward and stiff, you would have thought they'd never encountered before; then he smiled at her.  
That light in the tunnel she always referred to; it was him; Steve Rogers.

Suddenly Nat's lungs gulped for air, she inwardly cursed realising she'd been holding her breath. Widow spied a silent chuckle rocking Cap's body at her frustrated face; Romanoff couldn't take her eyes off him.

They _were_ intermit, they'd shared many heated kisses and desperate hugs; they'd even shared a bed many a time. However, that was the furthest they'd gone and this was the most she'd seen of Steve...completely and utterly Steve.

The spy stared at the soldier in awe, he was breath taking.

Nat found her elegant legs carrying her forwards, blue and green eyes were locked in place; nothing was breaking their stare. Their breaths were synchronized, like interlacing fingers, as Tasha stood before him, close enough to touch him without straining or overreaching.

Nerves fluttered wildly in her stomach as her tingling fingers reached up, Cap leaned down, capturing the teasing butterflies.

Her slender fingers held his check;  
Graceful petals rested against the delicate leaves.

Their breathing was slow and deep, though quickly escalading.  
Natasha could hear her heartbeat in her chest as their gasping lungs ran to the shallow end of the pool, fast inhales and exhales.

Carefully, Steve's strong right-arm curled around Nat's back, holding and pulling her towards him. His warm, bare bicep was tense against her shirt, making it stick to her due to the slight layer of drying water.

After a period of long held glances, heavy, hot hands and mixed breathing, Natasha finally took the daunting leap.

On her tiptoes she just reached his shoulders, but with Steve helping their lips met.

At first it was a soft, tentative kiss. Something that you'd see in the movies, slow and romantic, it brought the feeling of sunny days, warm water, choruses of giggles, picnic's in the park and the smell of flowers danced around the frame of her senses. Then when Natasha's hand slipped from cupping his cheek down to gripping his shoulders the kiss quickened.

One of Steve's hands rested on the small of her back, whilst the other crept up her back, tracing circles on her spine, until it was surrounded by her crimson tassels; holding her in place but also gently tugging and pulling.  
By now the kisses had evolved into quick bursts of dirty, desperate passion.

After several more seconds of pleasure Nat felt the confidence to explore him, her hands danced along his chest, pinching, scraping and tracing wild patterns along his bare skin. Suddenly Steve's' mouth separated from Nat's, allowing her to gather her breath whilst Steve's fiery lips were concentrated on her neck and collar-bone.

A chaos of groans and moans escape Nat's trembling lips, then she leaned forwards. She was on the tip of her toes when Steve noticed her struggling and wrapped his right arm around her thighs and lifted. The pleasant surprise exploded a gasp from Natasha's mouth and then her legs interlocked around his waist, resting comfortably over the soft towel.  
Then it was Steve's turn to squirm as Nat sucked on his earlobe, whilst cautious fingers fiddled with the buttons of her concealing shirt, seconds later it was discarded on the floor and Steve brought his face away to look at her.

His blue hues filled with wonder as he took in the beauty that was Natasha, moments later their lips are seeping such powerful passion Nat's gulping at the air every chance she can get.  
Steve's fingers burn against the top of her jeans, and Nat desperately wants to get them off.

As if hearing her thoughts Steve gently lets go of her legs, still dropping her which erodes excitement from inside her. But before she can even think of taking off her jeans Steve shoved her against a wall, his lips teasing at the confinement of her breasts. An idea than seeds in her brain caused Nat to spin around, pulling Steve against her, her back hitting him hard.

A groan of approval summons a chuckle from her red rose lips and then her hair is pulled back from her head, revealing her neck. Slowly a whisper of a kiss spreads down her spin and Nat thrusts harder and then Steve throws her around facing him and claws at her jeans until they're off.

Soon after a towel lands heavily against the floor, then black, lacy underwear.

A squeal of surprise bounces against the walls as two figures land on the once lonely bed.

* * *

Two days fly by faster than an arrow in the air and before Steve knows it, he's alone with Nat, waiting to drive her to her first - and hopefully - last meeting.

She's changing into training gear whilst Steve stands at the back of the room, watching.

After the other evening Steve's struggled to find a reason not to smile whenever he's been around her, now...he may have one. His reflection was reflected in the mirror, seen and interpreted by the glancing spy who quickly steps away from her mirror and turns to Cap.

"Hey...I can do this." Her hand fits in his, like a glove.

"I know," he tries to smile, but it feels forced so he gives up, knowing Nat will know the difference. "It's just...hard to leave you..."

Her hand squeezes his as a frown forms between her delicate brows "Hey! You're not...you never would...You guys are gonna be watching me the whole time. And I'm always going to be on comm; hey...if you get the slightest bit iffy you can wait outside...I may even let you pick me up after." Her teasing has no usual affect. So she steps closer, attempting for him to _know_ she's invading his personal space.

"I'll tell you what...when I get back, we can continue from the other night." Her whisper causes Steve's breath to shorten and he eyes her dancing eyebrows. Cap chants "Deal!"  
Then he pulls her in a passionate kiss, opening her mouth with his tongue and taking dominance easily whilst Nat stumbles in surprise.

Finally Natasha felt the strength to untangle her limbs from his and together they walked to the kitchen, hand in hand, they soon met with the rest of their team. Anxious eye contact was made and then Nat collected the rest of her equipment and then muffled some goodbyes, squeezing Clint's hand whilst winking before following Rogers' into the garage.

* * *

The car journey was too quiet and short to be completely comfortable, but the words neither of the couple could face saying were passed between silent stares and tender touches. Then Steve pulled up, a few blocks away from the school, his lights off and he leaned into Natasha before whispering "I'll see you later, remember...we've got your back." All Romanoff could master was a stoic nod before lightly kissing Cap's check. In the absence of Nat's close body Steve shivered and then pulled her back in such a flash Tasha couldn't comprehend what was her and what was him, she was close enough that all she could see were his lips as he said "I love you Natasha."

Without skipping a beat Nat recuperated "I love you too Steve." With one final nod she climbed out of the car and waited a minute outside the door, her eyelids closed. Once she stepped away from the road she waited...10 maybe 20 minutes before he finally drove away.  
It was at this point when Romanoff began walking towards the school building that it hit her, like a blade. _That was the first time we'd said...it!_

Once Natasha had composed herself she strutted into the school, her head held high and made her way straight towards the gym. During her journey she heard muffled cries of laughter and a strong thumping sound; she rounded the corner and saw James holding a long combat metal pole, facing off against Pietro who also had an exact replica of the pole.

As soon as Nat made her presence noticed, by stepping out of the shadows a large bang signalled a dropped pole and Peggy Carter screamed "What is SHE doing here!" Her piercing eyes were glued to Nat and Widow had to admit, despite needing to be here for the mission another side perk was the affect her appearance had on Carter.

Nat made to expand on her presence but Coach materialised from the opposite shadows and said "I invited Romanoff, I believe she could be a possible...recruit, if not future asset." Peg went to declare her loath of the idea but Barnes warded her off by opening his arms to welcoming Nat, Widow followed through, hoping her reluctance was hidden well - of course it was she's the Black Widow.

Appearing from a distant corner Wanda crept, silent as a cat, her eyes inquisitive but her expression was anything but threatening. Her hand slowly raised and resembled that of a timid wave of welcome. Tasha was genuinely surprised with pleasure at the sight and responded with a firm warm smile.

"Natasha...I'm glad you're here." James whispered in her ear and Nat couldn't help but raise her shoulders, it _could_ have been interpreted as a shiver, but Nat knew it looked like a flinch. She tried to play it off, by taking James' hand, but she saw the light in his eyes dampen ever so slightly.  
 _She'd have to fix that later._

Luckily Coach saved her from any further problems by announcing "Okay, so we're just going to do a slight warm up and then...Romanoff we've got a treat for you." The wicked grin on his face was bittersweet, it reminded her of a sickly sugary treat, one you'd come to regret soon after consuming.

They were put into teams, Nat was glad to see she had Wanda and Ward - She remembered Ward, he'd been a Hydra agent working in SHIELD, but luckily it was doubtful he'd know who Romanoff was let alone remember her. At the time he was working for SHIELD she had just started working for the KGB, soon after she was recovered by Barton and from then on kept in complete secrecy. Only the best of the best would have known of Widow's rescue whilst Ward was there. Thank God he'd been discovered shortly after; otherwise God knows what would have happened when they'd just 'met' - Carter, Pietro and Barnes were on the opposing team.

The winning team was the first team to have tackled their opponents to the ground. So the first thing her team had discussed was who they'd go up against. It was obvious the best choice for Wanda was Pietro - because they're both enhanced and wouldn't completely kill the other...probably.  
Romanoff was glad to see that Ward didn't instantly imply he should go against James, though he hinted. However Nat was NOT backing down, she'd let out her anger, as well as try and show off her potential and fix the constant cracks opening up between them.  
That meant Ward had Carter, which Nat thought was fair, he had an easy job.

They soon turned to face off against their opponents, three lioness and three lions. Nat smirked flirtatiously at Bucky, hoping to distract him; he winked back revealing a coy smile.

Abruptly the whistle was blown and Pietro disappeared immediately, Ward ran to tackle Peggy, but Romanoff and Barnes stayed exactly where they were, staring down each other.  
 _It had been a long time since they'd properly battled against one another._ As if reading her thoughts Barnes yelled "Just like old times, hey Romanov?"  
Subconsciously, the pair began circling one another, drawing closer by the second.  
Confidence dripped off her tongue "Except of course I'm gonna kick your arse!" A disbelieving snarl was his only response.

Suddenly a flash of red caught Romanoff's eye, she followed the spiral and her eye caught the hidden camera, Nat had completely forgotten they were watching as if on cue Stark whispered in her ear - her comm - "Eyes on target Red!" Nat spun, dodging a punch to the head from behind. Fury burned in her eyes, she desperately wanted to tell Tony to shut up, but that would reveal her cover.

Leaping into the air, Nat ducked and dived; turning away kicks and punches like they were made of feathers. James then did a stomach-churning horizontal spin in the air, something Nat had only ever seen one other person do before; Rogers.

Her shock was her downfall, the kick hit her straight in the stomach and she went down. Bucky going with her, landing on top of her, however his mistake was not pinning her legs down. Immediately Nat flipped him over her shoulders, jumping up straight after and catching his foot with her right hand. Quickly she ran away from him, only to turn on her heel and charge towards him.  
Her hands grabbed his shoulders and she flung them backwards, going into a rollie-pollie and pinning him down.  
This time Nat aimed to pin his legs down, but she underestimated his speed and arm strength, Barnes pushed her up high enough in the air that her body tipped forwards.

They were both back on their feet, Bucky then went in to tackle Widow's knees, Tasha couldn't help but grin as he did so. She flung her hips upwards and her thighs gripped his neck, tightening with the perfect amount of pressure. "GO LADY NATASHA!" Thor chanted in her ear, Nat couldn't help but flinch from the amplification, her grip loosed slightly, _slightly._

In the background of her comm she heard loud slaps and somebody snarling "THOR!"

When his face started to turn a light shade of purple Nat released her hold and once again was shocked with his quick recovery. The Winter Soldier was coming to play now.

He chucked her off his shoulders high into the air, and ran to the opposite side of the hall. When Nat landed in a cat-like stance her feet were taken out from under her. But she was straight back up, grabbing a potential punch to the head, then throwing her own.

The battle went on like this for a while and then Nat left her right side vulnerable whilst dodging a flying Carter, and James had her right hand pinned behind her back. Then Nat kicked him in the...special treasure and he feel to one knee. Tasha began to step up his front, kicking him down. He was about to fall back when the whistle was blown.

The huffing pair turned to see Carter pinned by Ward and Pietro frozen in air, mid curse, "That's the end of the game, Romanoff's team wins." Pietro suddenly fell, like a feather from the sky, Ward got of Peggy, helping her up and Nat removed herself from Barnes, slowly.

Romanoff could have sworn somebody from the opposite team would complain or declare a rematch, at least that's what the avengers would do if they did anything like this. But surprisingly nobody did, instead everybody recovered and wondered over to the Coach.

A tiny whisper echoed in her ear, which put a beaming smile on her face. "That's my girl." Nat felt her insides turn to jelly at the sound of _his_ voice. James then saw her facial expression and asked her "What are you sooo happy about, Romanov?" Nat's sly grin returned "I beat your arse didn't I?" He coughed and bent forwards, which was just a cover to attempt to tackle her. Nat saw it a mile away but decided to let him have it, but then she yanked on his arm and he dropped her.

Coach began talking "That was excellent skill shown from EVERYBODY! Now that the warm up's done, we're moving onto something else."  
He ended it like that and walked towards the door, curiously the group followed. Nerves wavered between the gang, although nobody showed any real concern.

They finally came to an opening and there, before the group with Coach beaming proudly was a black leather chair, attached to a computer and several hospital looking pieces of machinery. Off to the right of the room was a large mirror, next to a locked door. Nat observed the room and concluded her theories. It was one-way glass.  
That meant they were people on the other side of the glass; meaning they were here to watch.

Nat tried to conceal her tiny gulp, she'd beaten many lie detectors before, but if this was Hydra, God knows how she'd cope.

* * *

"James, you really don't have to give me a lift home." Barnes ignored her, leading her to his car.  
It was after the training session, Nat had completed the lie test, so had everybody in fact. But she felt she had been the one they were actually testing, things must have gone well though, because she was invited back and promised more information.

Now it was late into the evening and Steve was most likely about to leave to collect her when Barnes offered, "Nat...come on. How else are you gonna get home?"

Natasha folded her arms, fighting off the cold "I'll walk." Her eyes said; _If you say it's too dangerous I'll punch you..._

"Come on, I've seen you in some of your worst places. I think I can handle whatever place you've found yourself now." Nat shook her head, "James, please. I just...you know how it is. Just let me go." He was reluctant, but he released her hand and wished her goodnight, instantly she felt guilty and ran to amend it.

Her arms wrapped around him and the hug was very stiff and Natasha hated the memories that came with it, at least he didn't pull away though. There was also some kind of comfort that came with the hug; familiarity.  
It definitely wasn't safe, but it was known.

Quickly they separated and once out of sight Natasha starting running, she turned around the corner into their house when she stopped suddenly. Wanda stood before her "Wanda...what are you?" She was silent for a while, Nat began to panic. If Wanda was here where was Pietro?

As if sensing an issue the rest of the avengers assembled outside, gasping when seeing the witch. "What is she..." Barton began but was silenced by a red spiral escaping Wanda's hand.  
She spoke, as if from a distance, her voice sounding like it was completely around Nat, like it was in her head.  
"I saw into your mind, Natasha." Silence followed "I know...everything..." A gasp escaped the avengers as Wanda spun a snapshot of each memory she'd seen in Natasha's mind, from the shock on her teammates faces they were clearly seeing this too.

Nat didn't mind that they were seeing the plan, but they also saw her pain. The pain only Steve knew and the pain even he didn't, even the pain Nat hadn't been able to pinpoint herself.  
She was naked, vulnerable; on show...Natasha Romanoff had always been naked...


	10. Time to tell the truth

A hollow figure crumbled to the floor, everything escaping; all her feelings racing to leave the limp body.  
Wanda reached her first, her dainty arms wrapping around Natasha's back and lifting. Soon they were in the kitchen; Barton crouched on a chair, Banner hiding behind concerned orbs, Steve wrapping Nat into a hug which mostly supported her weight rather than anything else - despite her unconscious stake of mind she clung to him as if he were a life line - Wanda observed the room from the centre, facing them all, she looked intrusive and seemed upset about it, Stark was opening a bottle of whiskey - his latest liquor tastes had evolved to stronger tastes.

"Sorry, I know I should have...announced myself." Clint was torn between looking concerned at Nat and inquisitively at Maximoff. Nobody spoke for a while and then Nat finally asked "Where's Pietro?" Worry was aroused quickly.  
"Don't worry. He doesn't know I'm here."

Banner growled from the corner, rather hostilely "Will he?" Wanda eyed him carefully, her hands constantly fluttering; this put the team on edge but as long as no flashing lights danced through the air they were fine.  
"Depends..."  
Stark downed his drink "On?"  
"If what I saw in Natasha's head was...real."

Thor was obviously losing his patience "Of course it was. You can see into minds, shouldn't you be able to tell if they're lying or not?" Anger accused the witch.  
"Usually yes, but Natasha displayed her skills of dancing around the truth earlier. She's a difficult read."

The lie detector questions flooded Romanoff's vision.

 _"What is your full birth name?"_

 _At first Romanoff responded with quick shallow breaths, if she struggled with the easier questions it would be harder for Hydra to tell when she was lying on the harder ones._ " _Natalia Alianovna Romanova."_

 _"What is you_ real _age?" Natasha paused, staring straight ahead, luckily an invisible camera was placed on the wall she was facing, silently she asked. Should I?  
A tiny whisper echoed in her ear "It's okay, Nat, tell them." Clint reassured her._

 _"I was born in 1928 and from then onwards I was frozen from the age of 17, I am 87 years old." Several gasps escaped the closed door - which the rest of the students were huddled behind - the shock was echoed in Nat's ear also.  
A few more deep breaths as Nat answered several more meaningless questions. Then:_

 _"What is your relation to Clinton Francis Barton?" Natasha blinked several times._

 _"I was working for the KGB as an assassin; I was on my latest mission when he was there. He was a SHIELD agent sent to assassinate me; he failed and ended up recruiting me for SHIELD. We stayed there for a while, as partners and then we were recruited for the Avengers Initiative. We declined; wanting to stick to field work and keep out of the spotlight. SHIELD refused and we threatened to leave, they soon changed their course and sent us here. Trying to punish us." The lie was easy, a cover she and Barton had used many a time._

 _"Why did you refuse to join the Avengers Initiative?"_

 _Nat smirked "It wasn't in my job description." Several sniggers escaped the hallway and then Romanoff expanded "We both have difficult pasts, most of which we'd wish to remain secret. If we were to join the Avengers, we'd be targeted. The secluded life where we could easily slip in and out and get the job done would disappear. We also received a tip from another agency, SHIELD's struggling, even an idiot could see that, discovering an infiltration. Sooner or later our secrets are going to be exposed and nobody...wants to be protected by previous assassins."_

 _A stiff silence stung Nat's ears, for a while no more questions were asked. At least not to her, God knows what was being said behind that glass...and then the real game was being played._

 _"Where does your loyalty lie? Are you still sworn to your SHIELD oath?"_

 _Nat bit her lip, her eyes straining. "At the moment my loyalty is with Agent Barton. SHIELD is falling and soon there will be nothing left, truthfully I'm looking for something knew."_

 _The next question caused a growl to erupt from the other end of her comm "Do you trust James Buchanan Barnes?"_

 _Nat paused, unsure which route to go "He's an old partner and friend; there are old ties and loyalties. He's not thrown away my trust...yet. But lots have separated us and a fully functioning honest relationship would take time and practice."_

 _A large pause allowed Natasha to go over every question and answer she'd received and given. Then the robotic voice concluded "Thank you Ms Romanova, that will be all."_

 _She'd passed._

Steve pestered, clearly desperate to get Natasha to bed - for rest... "Wanda, really what are you doing here?"

The witch scanned their faces "If what I heard if true, I want to help."

"Wha..."  
"With what?"  
"Why?"  
"Witch say wat!"  
"How can we trust you?"  
"What about Pietro?"

"When my brother and I first joined Hydra, we were young and angry...with Stark. One of your shells killed our parents and left us trapped in our own home for days. Then we found out about Strucker's experiments, we finally thought this was our chance to take revenge into our own hands." She glared at Stark, the shadow of vengeance tinted in her eyes. "We were the only successful volunteers, we believed it was fate. We were _meant_ to be successful; we were going to get our revenge. But Strucker was Hydra, it was a Hydra experiment. Ever since then we were abused and used frequently for missions we had no interest in. But we kept going, as long as we had our moment with Stark."

Suddenly a draining explanation of deep pain and regret caused Maximoff to fall backwards, landing on the couch. Her hands clutched at her shoulders, clawing at the fabric of her leather jacket. "Then we met James," she looked at Natasha "he's not all bad. I know you look at him and struggle; you feel the pain of your past trying to force you back to something known. But you can't comprehend how he ended up the way he is, that's one of the reasons you don't go back to him..." Her eyes moved to Steve "He was put under ice, experimented on by Zola many times. His memory was swiped so many times the real James is barred so deeply inside it would take years to get him back."

Steve, still supporting a stumbling Natasha, sank into the couch, which didn't stop him from sinking in a storm of guilt, he brought Nat down with him.

Wanda continued "He was so strong, he kept us fighting. Was a brother to us, an inspiration for Pietro. My brother doesn't see my side of things, not yet anyway. That's why he's so protective; he's scared my doubts are going to get me killed."

Natasha was no longer suffering with concern as to Wanda's presence, she was beginning to like and pity the young girl. Slowly, to not scare the witch off, Nat took her hand which was leaving knife marks in her shoulders. This gave Wanda the strength to continue "Then we were put here, you're right it's an infiltration. Hydra is trying to recruit new agents and soldiers. But it was also a trap, for you. They know about the Avengers; however they're not positive over who is in the Avengers' initiative."

Natasha was suddenly clawing for answers "Did they believe me?" Wanda flinched with the firm heat from her words and Romanoff released her crushing grip on the girl's wrist, apologizing as she did so. "Yes, some things they're curious about and they will be testing you again. You're definitely a possibility. You've made them doubt some of their own knowledge."

Clint, who had soundlessly moved patted her back. Nat noticed all the avengers had gathered closer to Wanda, she may seem...unique but she had a caring nature which drew them in. She was so young.  
Banner, collecting all his resources as always asked "What do you mean trap us?"

"They knew SHIELD would send you, you've been the ones destroying all Hydra's bases, correct?" A unison nod assured her. "Well they know you're at the school, but they didn't know if Romanoff was hanging out with you to save her own neck or if she was...with you.  
They're planning to challenge you, take you down on a full fronted fight. Barnes, my brother and I, several other soldiers and possible new recruits would fight for Hydra."

"When?" Stark was pacing. Wanda shrugged, and Thor spoke the voice of reason "With all due respect, why should we trust you. For all we know you're tricking us."  
Tony muttered in agreement.

Wanda's head fell "This the problem with all these secret agencies, the whole reason SHIELD and Hydra are both falling apart. You trust no one, not even each other," her eyes flew to Nat "Not even yourselves."

Steve was getting annoyed "How do you expect us to when we discovered SHIELD was built on a lie, Hydra had grown inside us like a parasite."

Wanda nodded, "I agree, but if you can't trust yourselves how do you expect anybody else to?" She had a valid point and then answered Thor's troubling inquiry. "And...shouldn't my presence be enough. Not only am I risking my own life, I'm risking my brother's. I was going to keep going but then...I saw what would happen if we... _when_ we lose against you."

Barton was perplexed, crouching on the table despite Tony's eye-rolls "What makes you think you'll lose? You've got two enhanced." Wanda eyed him with something Nat could only pinpoint as admiration.  
"But you're a team. You may not feel it, but you're stronger than us." The Avengers stared in disbelief. "You'd die for each other yes?" After shared eye-contact they eventually nodded, if it came down to it, yes they would.  
"Well, we wouldn't. Hydra teaches efficiency, if one of your teammates is down, leave them and save yourself. Only Pietro and I would protect the other, everybody else...they're not necessarily selfish. But it's how they've been trained."

A long silence filled the space between the team whilst they reviewed everything they'd been told and contemplated how much of a chance they actually had.

"So what do you want?" Despite everything they'd been told Stark was still crude and short with Wanda.

"I want to help..."

"How? How, really can you help us without endangering your brother and yourself?"

She gasped for words and placed her hands on her head, she looked like an elastic band had just tightened on her scalp, squeezing her brain until there was nothing left. Nat hated the pain she felt for her, Romanoff instantly became defensive of Wanda.  
"Stark back off, she's already helped by telling us all this."

"How can we trust..."  
Steve interrupted "STARK! Shut it...later ok?" Tony growled and continued pacing.

"Wanda what...what is it?" Clint leaned forward, concerned. Finally the girl blinked and then relaxed her tense stance.

"It's...nothing, just a side effect from the pill they give me."

Nat and Barton were up and crouched before her in seconds "Wanda! What pill?"

"It's fine, they give it to me to help with my powers. It helps me read people better; I select who I want to listen to. But it also stops me listening to too many people at once. I was trying to keep tabs on Pietro as well...he's worried, I should go." Instantly she got up, talking to them was her last priority as she strutted for the door, ignoring their presence.

She stopped when Nat called "Wanda wait! How...how can you help us." The witch looked at Romanoff like she was possessed with stupidity "By joining you to take down Hydra, of course."

* * *

"James shut it!" Nat teased hitting his arm away; he was tediously taunting her, telling her how he'd beat her this time.  
It was the second Hydra meeting she'd been invited to, this time Natasha had sat a private lie detector test and passed - again - first and now they were back in the gym practicing using different weapons or using different parts of their bodies.

Natasha excelled on all physical levels.

They were just finishing up when Coach declared "We have an assignment for you all this Saturday evening." Natasha covered her layer of panic with a glazed expression of curiosity. Eagerly she eyed Wanda, tonight they were going to try and break through to Pietro, but nobody knew how well that would go down.  
But this was a new development.

A board flew from the ceiling, stopping at eye level with the group, coach pointed and prodded whilst explaining "It's a simple mission, shouldn't take more than 45 minutes at most. This building...as most of you will recognise..." Natasha froze, her heart resisting to pump for a slight second as her eyes took in the image before her. "...Is filled with the most expensive and highest digital tech to date...meaning it will be heavily guarded, even if the owner is at this school." On the diagrammed board was a picture of Stark tower; Tony's house, most recently housing the Avengers.

"Our intelligence says Tony Stark, whilst attending this school, is staying elsewhere. Nevertheless, that gives no room for arrogance; this is the going to be one of your hardest missions. The team we've chosen are:  
Winter Soldier  
Scarlet Witch  
Black Widow

Quicksilver will be in the hover carrier above with back up and strike team. I DON'T expect them to be needed; Ward will stay at our intelligence facility, cutting the power and security systems. Any questions, ask your team leader...Barnes. Any problems...and you're not cut out to be a Hydra Agent.  
That's all for tonight, I'll see you guys on Saturday."

They were dismissed; excitement was uttered and whispered in every hushed word as the group made their way to the car park. Ward asked "Have any of you guys actually seen the intelligence facility?" Everybody declined except for James who stated "You'll get collected at 8:30 from your house and driven there; they don't even trust their own Agents enough to know where everything is."

Romanoff had just suspected that they didn't want _her_ to know just yet; she'd been thinking about their facilities when Coach had invited her to her very first meeting, she'd been confused as to why it was at the school but she always presumed it was due to SHIELD's manhunt to cut off every last head that Hydra grew. Wanda had definitely been right about that trust problem all agencies seemed to have.

The peculiar witch had definitely kept her word, as far as the Avengers could tell she was being honest with them and meeting them every other night secretly. In order to hid it she was erasing the memory of leaving Pietro every time she did so, Nat had seen her do it once.  
All it had involved was a swipe of her left wrist, but it had left behind a devastation of betrayal seeping from her leaking eyes.

Stark was still weary of the twins, especially Pietro, but everybody else had taken a liking to Wanda. Hawkeye had taken her under his wing, his parental nature shining through his distant demeanour; it reminded Nat of when he'd recruited her to join SHIELD.  
She now saw it as if an outsider seeing Clint step out of his way to protect a stray orphan.

Thankfully it didn't make her jealous, if anything it made her affection for her partner grow; to see that he would do it again and again for others and that Nat hadn't frozen his warm heart. She hadn't poisoned him like she feared she would everybody she encountered.

Wanda also helped Romanoff deal with past trauma; sometimes she'd do it without Natasha knowing. Just her presence could help relax and bring the good out of everybody; she also helped Steve deal with Bucky's lack of death situation.

That they did actually talk about, at first it had hurt Nat that he'd talk about it more openly with her, but she soon remembered and was reassured that it was because Wanda read it in Steve's mind and Witch encouraged Rogers' to engage with Widow about it.

But now...with what they were about to do; telling Pietro, could ruin it all.  
Just a matter of small sentences could produce the wrong reaction and Hydra could be on their tail quicker than Wanda could erase his memory.

So naturally Natasha was on edge, constantly going off in a painful reverie, or blanking people around her.

"Nat!" Her head spun as she searched for the source, James was by his car unlocking the door. "What?"  
"I said do you want a lift?" Suddenly Wanda materialized by her side, her arm wrapping around Romanoff's shoulders. "Don't worry...Buck, Pietro and I have already offered to give her a lift. See you tomorrow." Wanda ran and gave him a fleeting hug before skipping over to an eye-brow raising Pietro.

Nat stood awkwardly staring at James, his face had fallen. Thinking that Tasha would rather have them see her latest 'dump' than him, Romanoff knew how it looked and for a moment she was tempted to just leave.  
But she slumped over to him, hugging him and muttered a muffled apology into his shoulder. "Honestly I'd rather run but she's forcing me. She threatened to steal my pudding every lunch if I wouldn't let her." That erupted a forged chuckle but James' stance relaxed and he leaned into the hug.

Finally she pulled away, waving bye as she walked to Pietro's waiting car.

Several minutes later they pulled up outside the dark house; all cars were hidden in the shut garage and all lights were off, just like the team had planned. Cautiously Romanoff stepped out of the car, her eyes searching the house; Barton was most likely watching her. Ready to give the single to the others; after Wanda's new loyalty she'd informed Natasha that at the next meeting she was going to be searched for comms or cameras. Maximoff had assured the team it was just a precaution before they welcomed her fully into their ranks. So this evening Nat had gone without a microphone, ear piece and Stark had even taken down the cameras.

The team had no idea what Natasha had been brought into; she'd tell them about the mission later. Now, she needed to focus on getting Pietro on their side.

After another fleeting glance, Tasha turned back to the impatiently roaring engine. "Thank you." Pietro kept his eyes forward but stated a polite, robotic "Anytime."  
From the back of the car Wanda called "See you tomorrow." They went to drive away but Nat called "You don't have to go."

Pietro, obviously desperate to get away, turned to face her. Annoyance setting his jaw on edge "It's fine really we'd..."  
"Love to!" Wanda interrupted, climbing gracefully out of the car; despite her hurried enthusiasm it was clear that Witch was getting nervous. Pietro stared in shock at his sister, but killed the engine and joined the girls outside.  
Natasha wasn't oblivious to his muffled whispering to Wanda, who batted him away like a pestering fly.

Soon they were inside, Nat left the lights out, not sure of everybody's whereabouts. Slowly she lead them to the kitchen and went to get several glasses down. She then placed them in front of the bizarre-looking twins facing her; they were still empty though Wanda and Romanoff hadn't noticed. Pietro looked between the pair in silence before asking "Is everything alright?"

Natasha took a deep breath before stepping closer to him; Wanda's head was down, staring into the floor. Her hands at the ready position, though Nat knew the likelihood was that they'd falter at the quickest movement.

"Pietro, what we're about to tell you, will be hard to hear. But I'm asking you, to let us talk, let us explain ourselves fully before you do anything...impulsive or irrational." Quicksilver stared dauntingly at Natasha, his orbs swaying from his concerned sister to the piercing importance of Natasha's words.

Finally Wanda snapped out of her trance, swaying on her feet slightly. "Natasha knows about Hydra, she knows everything Pietro." His eyes tested the spy, who nodded stiffly.

His voice was a quiet whisper in the chorus of truths "Everything?" Wanda's eyes filled with unshed tears as her nod erupted a mudslide of realisation. The intelligently anticipating Quicksilver shuddered as a conclusion shattered against his ears "You lied, you're not here to start afresh or join Hydra..."

Nat followed the subconsciously retreating body further into the lounge. "No, Pietro I'm here to help you and Wanda. I'm here to finish Hydra." A thump signalled the abrupt halt of the shocked boy as he hit the wall, nowhere else for him to go.

Suddenly a crashing sound disturbed the painfully panicked atmosphere and Natasha inwardly cursed, knowing full well what was about to happen. A ceiling tile fell from the roof of the swashed lounge; Wanda's enhanced powers saved her from a bash on the head as the tile crashed towards her slender figure.  
Quickly following the tile was a cussing Agent Barton, who unlike the tile gracefully tucked into a ball, bouncing off the hovering tile and landing cat-like on the floor, he flew to his feet in a ready stance.

Pietro stared in fright, realising in a flashing second that he hadn't acted to move his sister; in other cases Wanda wouldn't have had to save herself because she would have already been in his arms. The shock of Nat's knowledge really was affecting him, anger resurfaced as his eyes settled on Clint.

But the frustration was transported to Romanoff as he growled "What aren't you telling me." Barton's fall summoned the hiding team and soon all avengers were encircling Pietro, Wanda ran to him; so he wouldn't feel alone. Her hand reaching for his, though he didn't let go of her he also didn't give her the satisfaction of holding onto her either. Nat saw the bond stretching tautly between them as vividly as the twins felt it; Nat had to put this right.

Her eyes found the cause of Clint's uncharacteristic fall; Stark clambered out of the ceiling whole, abandoning any attempt to forge Hawkeye's grace.

"I know this is a lot to take on, but trust us...we're the good guys." Pietro's eyes ran to Stark, he spat "There are no good guys in this industry! Just people with their own selfish greed, everybody wants the power...but nobody knows how to wield it."

Steve was at Natasha's side, his mind on the event at hand, but his body facing her. His fingers stroking her shoulder; Rogers' was just glad she was back from the Hydra meeting, she was safe.

"Look, kid...we know what it looks like..." His eyes lost contact with Maximoff as they replayed his own difficulties with SHIELD "And what it feels like, but you've got to _understand_...you're with Hydra for the wrong reasons."

Pietro pulled Wanda closer "I haven't _got to understand_ anything!" He snarled.

Banner tried a different route "We've heard from Wanda how she feels, why she came to us. Maybe if you tell us your..." He was suddenly cut off as Pietro turned to Wanda "What have they done to you? I told you these doubts will get us killed." His knuckles were white on her thin arms and Natasha had to fight back her defensiveness from consuming her.

But Wanda could handle her brother, she didn't pull away from his grip, but her fingers covered his and she loosed his hold fractionally. "I read her; I saw why she was here...Why they all are. After Natasha's first meeting...after the lie detector test, I came to her. Seeking answers, I told them how we came to Hydra. Pietro you know as well as I do that we signed up for Strucker's experiments with one goal..." Her eyes found Starks' who hid behind Thor. "One we didn't get to fulfil and one we won't complete. We didn't sign up for the lies or abuse they've tormented us with."

She took a deep breath. "Please, I'm not asking you to join them. I'm not asking you to leave me either, just hear us out?" Pietro licked his lips, flinching at the way Wanda so easily and calmly stated 'us.' Staring into his sisters' tortured eyes, slowly he sat down, Wanda at his side and he turned to Natasha. "Tell me what you told her."

Natasha didn't waste a second "Hydra isn't what you thought it was, you signed up seeking revenge for what happened to your parents, but you're not going to get that. Take it from me, killing the person who has done you wrong, will not change anything...It can't change the past and it won't bring them back. It will change who you are. Your parents wouldn't want that." Pietro's cheeks whitened.

"Ever since SHIELD was created, after World War 2, Hydra...the organization responsible for Nazi's and Hitler and the tesseract has grown inside SHIELD. They have been feeding America lies and every step SHIELD took in helping the world was actually Hydra controlling it. When it was discovered that Hydra was inside SHIELD both systems and agencies almost collapsed. Ever since we've been hunting them and searching for them...we've been the ones destroying all those Hydra bases.

"Then we were sent here, we were informed Hydra was infiltrating the school, recruiting new agents and adding them to their ranks. So we were tasked with taking them down. It may not seem like much, but...destroying this programme could make a big difference in the end result.  
However, we won't be able to do it alone. And after Wanda informed us that Hydra is aware of the Avengers' presence there's little time to prepare for their expected attack."

Silence dripped like a leaking pipe. Nat needed to make this point crystal "You didn't join Hydra to rain terror across the world, you joined it for your own heartfelt vengeance. Now you have a chance to do something, you can help stop the same experience you had...from happening to others. The question is, will you take it?"

Pietro stared at the floor, then he stood "I don't care what you tell me about the differences between Hydra and SHIELD at the end of the day it grew within your agency and nobody noticed, surely that has to mean something.  
But I will help" A sigh of relief damped the tense cloud threatening to rise "not for you or for SHIELD, for my sister." The twins shared a heart breaking glance "That doesn't mean I'm joining you, I'm just doing the right thing, but that _will_ change in the future...as it always does."  
He headed for the door and Wanda flew to her feet "Where are you going?"

He didn't turn around. "I need some air...when I get back we're talking battle plans." There was no room for arguments as the door slammed shut behind him, as soon as he was gone Wanda crumpled forwards into a ball. Not hiding her loud sobs, Natasha reached her first, wrapping her up in a hug and carrying her to Nat's room.  
On her way Natasha held eyes with Steve and then she nodded at Clint.

* * *

Pietro was a thin silhouette in front of the black canvas; he sat on the roof staring at the sky.  
His deep breaths told Clint that he was...distraught, he probably felt betrayed. Barton knew he would if he was ambushed by Nat like that, but Wanda meant no harm. She was just doing the right thing.

Idly Clint slung onto the roof too, making enough noise so as not to startle Pietro to running away, screw his abilities: Barton would struggle to catch anybody running at top speed on a slippery tiled roof.

He sat close enough for Maximoff to see him out of the corner of his eye, but not too close to make the kid feel invaded.

"Whatever you've come to say...save it." Quicksilver's tone was weaker than before; the slight crack in his voice told Clint more than his defiant words.

"Oh, I wasn't gonna say anything. This is my spot." Pietro eyed him, questioning the archer. Barton's head stayed down, his hands resting on his knees as he repeated solemn words which meant more to him than you'd expect.  
"I see better from a far..." as an afterthought Hawkeye added "Plus I like high places."

A chuckle raced from Quicksilver's sealed lips. "You know whatever you're trying to do...it's not..."  
Clint interrupted "I told you kid, I'm not trying to do anything...uh" A muffled chuckled followed the sentence which the spy expertly covered with a false cough.

Barton sighed in the silence, shifting the slightest bit closer to Pietro. "You know you're not the only one with doubts." Maximoff stopped rolling his eyes long enough to react to the statement. "What do you mean?"

"You're right, there really is no difference between these agencies when you look close enough. And when Hydra was discovered not only did it break a lot of bonds, but it broke people."  
Pietro was silent but listening intently "People didn't know what to do, who to believe. They could no longer trust their own judgement...it was harder on some than others." Maximoff's interest was piqued, his lips went to ask but Barton answered anyway "Nat...Generally the people at the top of the ranks...the people whose heart and soul were at the centre of the agency were affected the most.

"Me...I was okay; I had family, a life outside of SHIELD. But for some people SHIELD really was a new beginning a...life that they chose to invest in and then it blew up in their faces.  
Like one of those jack-in-the-boxes. That you spin the handle and that jolly tune plays and then bang! Out pops one of those evil looking clowns and the children start crying..." Clint saw Pietro's baffled look "yeah...it's not pretty.." They shared a lengthy laugh before sighing.

"My point is...the agencies are too similar to compare. If you do you'll just end up confusing yourself and not trusting your own judgement."

Pietro's hands were white where he was clinging to the side of the roof like a life line. "How do you know...which is right?"

Barton bit his lip "You follow your gut, sometimes it doesn't work out and you backtrack. But my advice is, only get to that stage of uncertainty and regret...when it doesn't work out and...you need to."

Another silence swept across the shore. Clint wasn't oblivious to how close Pietro was from flipping from one side of the coin to the other, at the moment it was 50, 50. But he ignored that fact, treading carefully and hoping his words would speak loud enough.  
Pietro intercepted the slightly terrifying thought "I'm only doing this for her." Clint nodded "And I was only doing it for Nat, but the point is you're still doing it...and soon everything will become clear. But what really matter is we've come to you for help, which means we'll protect you; you don't owe us anything. We're bringing you into this mess." he gestured with his hands emphasising his point.  
"After this is all over, you and Wanda can go, do your thing and we won't bother you again. Or..."

"Or?"

"Or you can stay and battle it out, become an Avenger. See if you can handle those idiots down there." Clint pointed down the roof where a muffled scream came from, Pietro flinched but Barton put out his hand "It's just Thor...Tony ate all his pop tarts earlier."

They both broke out in laughs.

"So what do you say, kid? You gonna fight with us, because if you are...you can't hold back...you can't silently resent us. You need to voice your concerns and worries and...That's how we'll trust each other."

Pietro put his head in his hands, and then grunted "Er, what the hell. Sure...I'm in..." Interrupting Barton's whoop Pietro declared "But I've got some demands..."  
Clint laughed "Of course you do...and you've got just as much of a right to make them as any of us...come on, let's go and make this battle plan!"

After one final look out across the night sky Quicksilver followed Barton off the roof, finally feeling a sense of belonging building in his stomach. Suddenly eager to teach the bird a thing or to he ran ahead, sprinting until he was on the ground staring up at a startled Clint. "Keep up old man!" He shouted and raced inside; that should teach the teenager to refer to Pietro as 'kid.'


	11. So what's the plan

"Wanda you can't blame yourself!" Natasha squealed.  
After Pietro had stormed out Nat had taken the stunned twin to her room hoping to calm her down.  
Witch was sat on Romanoff's bed, her knees pulled under her red dress and her hair curtaining around her face, close to hiding the streaming tears; but they still leaked out.

"Who else is there to blame?" Her voice was shallow and taut, reminding Natasha of: a crying baby out of breath, sharp knifes slicing against each other, nails dragging down a chalk board.  
Tasha contained her flinch, just.

"Nobody has to be blamed, look he's with Clint at the moment." Wanda rolled her eyes and turned over on the bed, not before Natasha caught a glimpse at the twins cheeks, which had gained another layer of colour at Barton's mention.  
Natasha smirked at that, always Barton and his parental trust; it was like a bad odour, always following you around.  
Nat firmly grabbed Maximoff's arm, pulling her back. "Look! If anyone can get through to your brother it's Barton." Wanda's breathing was too infrequent for Widow's liking. Her dark eyes drove a deep and powerful force through Natasha's whole body; it wasn't a threat but a warning.

"And if he can't?" The thought concealed the light from that tunnel, leaving the entire mission in utter darkness. Not the kind you get used to either, this darkness was as thick as a fog, a knife could cut through it...finally releasing them from the realm of sinister silence and somber...however that knife would be wielded by Hydra.  
It was painful to think, even worse to feel.  
Wanda repeated the question to which Widow had no happy answer "If he can't?" Her eyes frantic.

"Putting it mildly...we're screwed."

Startled girls jerked to defensive stances; Natasha spun on her heel, pulling a dagger from the hem of her yoga pants whilst Wanda rose to a crouch on the bed her fluttering fingers shimmering sparks of red.  
At once they relaxed seeing the dark silhouette belonged to Stark.

Natasha resealed her blade and Wanda's fingers froze, still twitching every now and then. Her eyes impaling as she exclaimed "Is Pietro...?" Stark's nod interrupted her and hastily Witch raced for her brother.

Nat smiled at Stark as they proceeded to the lounge, his eyes pointed to her hip where the dagger was hidden. "Does Rogers' know you stash that down there?"

* * *

The hug shared between the twins was heart warming. During which Nat walked to Barton who was stationed at the back of the group, her arm wrapped around his back and Clint returned the gesture by resting his hand on her hip. "Thanks."  
She sighed into his embrace, revealing a chuckle from Clint.  
"Oh I didn't do anything?" Nat rolled her eyes "Just...reminded the kid of what he'd lose." Nat's head lifted from his shoulder, turning to face him.  
"What else did you talk about?"

Barton sighed, turning his head to the right like he always did when remembering something "Errr...Oh right, I was honest. Something I know those punks wouldn't do if they were in my position." He acknowledged the surrounding avengers.  
"I told him they were too similar to compare and to follow his gut, same thing I did when saving your big arse."  
"Watch it birdboy or else you may just lose a wing!" Their laugh was disturbed by a whining Stark.

"Look...okay woohao! Yay, the guy agreed to fight with us, now unless we get back to work there's not gonna be much of a fight for the boy to experience."  
Despite Tony's aggravation he did have a point; leisurely Nat and Clint stepped forwards, untangling themselves as they switched into game mode.

The group assembled around the table and Steve called the shots, oblivious to the rest of the team was Steve's hand tracing patterns on Natasha's back. Making her squirm as she tried to hide the tingling fireworks on her skin from the rest of the group.

"Wanda do you have any idea when this attack will supposedly happen?" Maximoff shrugged and then her knowing eyes caught Nat's, a subtle wink made Romanoff crack up causing all eyes to jab her way.  
Then she remembered something "Saturday..."  
"What?" Stark called.

Nat sought Maximoffs' eyes "Hydra gave us a mission: Wanda, James and I, with Pietro as back up."

Banner seemed to be the only keeping up with the dynamic running of Widow's mind "You don't think..."  
Clint caught up reassuring all of them "What...with their strongest players elsewhere? I hardly doubt Hydra would throw away their only advantage."  
Wanda voiced an opinion agreeing that Hydra wouldn't attack the Avengers with Barnes, Maximoff and Romanoff out of the picture. "He's right, Hydra is a lot of things, but suicidal isn't one of them."

"Hold on! What's this mission and why are we only now hearing about it?" Nat ignored his gesturing quotation marks and stated, preparing for an over reaction "Because we had more pressing things to deal with and...they want us to break into Stark Tower."  
Gasping dolphin was the resemblance of Stark's reaction.

"My...my..." Natasha nodded and Thor rubbed Tony's back gently and then asked quietly "Is there a way this can be...avoided?" Pietro spoke up for the first time without sounding like a corned animal "No. At least not without revealing your cover. They sent Natasha for a reason..."

"Which is?" Thor was feeling a little slow tonight. "Well she's one of..."

Stark fire returned "Does he need to spell it out for you! Because it's a test...and if it were any other house they know she'd succeed. She's the frickin Black Widow for God's sake!"

The team waited to allow Tony to calm down. Steve spoke first "Stark surely you've got one of the best security systems in the world." Another bottle of whiskey was opened "Yes, but I haven't been there in days...something could have happened. And you seem to forget this is Hydra! They don't poke a bear with a stick, they pick the sharpest blade in the world."

Steve gave up trying to calm down Tony and faced Pietro "Do you know what they want?" The boy shrugged, "I can only presume some sort of technology."  
Stark growled "Well they're hardly searching for Cinderella's glass slipper, are they?"

Pietro bite back "Or maybe they're searching for a conscience, since you don't seem to possess one!" Stark was becoming hysterical "Oh Yeah! Ouch...somebody better throw a jug of water over me after that BURN!"  
Out of nowhere water crashed around Tony, a gasp flooded from the group's momentary shock. Their puzzlement was soon pieced together when their eyes travelled to a dumbfounded Thor holding an empty glass.

Natasha suddenly twisted Tony's arm behind his back as he made to leap at Thor, "I think that concludes today's planning." She eyed Thor and the Maximoff twins "I think you guys should go." Tony growled "YEAH before I throttle you to death with my bare hands!"  
Natasha handed a struggling Stark to Steve, sharing a subtle chuckle with him as she did so.

Nat then turned to Thor, raising her eyebrows like a school teacher.  
The God stared humbly after Tony, "He asked for it, yes?"

Immediately Banner escorted Thor to the boys joint room, leaving Nat and Clint to say goodbye to Pietro and Wanda. After Natasha gave a long hug to Witch, during which she apologized for her earlier behaviour, of course, Romanoff wiped away the absurd apology.  
Then when Barton and Wanda shared a hug, Romanoff eyed Pietro and eagerly stepped into his brief embrace, she whispered against his shoulder "I'm really sorry for..." He quietened her urgently. "Just...protect my sister and Romanoff...I'm sorry."

Nat smiled up at the twins before finally speaking a sudden thought "You guys don't have to go, I know it will be tight...But we could make it work?" They shared a look before kindly declining the offer "Thank you, but we'd hate to be a bother..." Barton placed his hands on his hips and Pietro elaborated his sister's vagueness "What she means is we'd hate to murder Stark."  
Romanoff cut in "Actually, I don't think you would." Then Pietro said in response "Besides, Hydra monitors our apartment. If we don't return home every night at least one...they'll be tracking us within minutes."

The partners nodded in agreement, Romanoff writing the idea off as impulsive and irresponsible.  
Barton then put his arm around her shoulders again as they rushed in out of the chilly breeze.

"Are we starting to show more emotions little red?" Nat growled as Barton grabbed one of Stark's dismissed beers. Then she settled with stealing a sip "I just...want to keep them safe, even though Wanda came to us...we could have turned her away, we could have lied. I feel like we're almost using them" Clint nodded, the sarcasm on his face retiring for another day.  
"I know what you mean, Tash, but I think you... _we_ need to stop looking at them as innocent kids and start looking at them as...part of this team I guess."

Nat bit her lip in the silence that followed his...poetic input.  
It didn't last for long "Seriously has Thor or Cap slipped you something because a whole lot of...quotable crap has been pouring out your mouth all day?" Barton smiled proudly and ruffled her hair before calling it a night and walking towards the boys room.

Nat turned back to Barton's discarded beer, then further down the corridor she heard Clint call "Cap." In a respectful tone.

Romanoff didn't have enough time to turn before Steve's securing arms were wrapped around her waist. Nat smiled as he kissed the nape of her neck.  
Slowly her eyes found the beer bottle again as Rogers breathed in her scent, as if reading her thoughts he asked easily "Tempted?"

Nat hummed along as he continued to kiss along the top of her spine "Very much so..." Her hands tightened around his hold on her hips "For something stronger!" She spun in his hold her lips itching for his. She had hardly seen him all day; so much had happened and all she'd wanted to do was be with him.

To Nat's dismay Rogers pulled away, "Oh, I should tell you...to stop Stark from attempting to tackle Thor in his sleep - you and me both know how heavy a sleeper Thor is" He answered her perplexed eyebrows "I've put him in my room...sooo, can I stay in with you tonight?"  
Nat opened her mouth slightly, flashing her tongue as Steve leant closer to her, about to steal a kiss but she pulled away at the last second "Why didn't you tell me sooner?" Her voice was barely a whisper as her seductively velvet tone drove him to press her for that avoided kiss, still she tediously teased him.

Until Steve's hands gripped her hips and lifted, rushing Nat to her room and slamming the door with Romanoff's body.  
She groaned loudly, her lips against his ear and then she stared upwards into his piercingly beautiful hues.  
Finally she delicately placed her lips against his silky soft petals, his taste was so tenderly sweet; she could never get enough.

* * *

"Right so what's our plan?" It hadn't taken Tony very long to recover from his humiliating shower, it was the following evening and all they avengers were once again assembled attempting to try and gain an idea of the battle.

"I recon Hydra are going to wait until I've gained their full trust...so I'm guessing after this mission is complete." Wanda and Pietro voiced their agreements with Romanoff's suggestion.  
Thor repeated "After Saturday...Got it!" and frantically began craving into a notebook; for some bizarre reason unknown to a perplexed Steve who looked at the God; slightly concerned.

"Now they'll definitely try to put me against you, so I think the battle will happen at the school and...honestly I don't think there's much we can do except fight." Barton placed his hands before him on top of the table "Okay, but after the fight...how far are we taking this?"  
The Avengers hard indecision shifted to their leader's shoulders, he sighed "Err...I think we'll have to capture the leader of the school and bring him back to SHIELD headquarters as well as the other agents we'll be fighting against...then the ball is in Hydra's court and it's their move. Fury will handle it from there."

Pietro suddenly tensed, catching Clint's careful eye "What are you gonna do with the Hydra agents?"  
Stark began "We'll kick their arse..."  
Steve interrupted like a heavily rehearsed routine "We'll hand them over to SHIELD for questioning and interrogation, it will be their call from there."

Pietro bit his lip before demanding "Barnes has to be spared."

Rogers' reaction was iron cold "Why?"

Clint rubbed his stubble and Thor repeated once again, whilst writing in the notebook "Barnes to be spar..."  
"Thor shut it!" Steve was staring down at the enhanced with imposingly painful precision. "That's not your call to make, son." Nat's hand grabbed Steve's arm, holding him back but Rogers' was determined and he kept walking until he was staring down into Pietro's eyes; who was holding his sister tightly behind him, keeping her from separating the boys.

From behind Pietro, Wanda spoke, still drawing trails of control from her words "Steve...he's not lost, you know that. If we spare him, if _you_ spare him...there's a chance he'll come back."  
Cap set his jaw "Look I'm not going to spare anybody just because you and your brother have built some sick form of relationship with Barnes, where you braid each other's hair after killing off Hydra's most wanted..." His words suddenly slurred, his eyes turned cloudy.

Out of the frame of her sight Widow caught a flicker of red, quickly she acted; holding Maximoff's spinning fingers still "Wanda that's exactly how you destroy trust!" She then whispered "Let him come to this conclusion on his own."  
A frown folded between the sheets of her creamy surface, but her complexion resolved to her regularly wacky wonderful attar.

Tasha squeezed between the menacing exterior and cut like a blade through the foggy aggression building between the boys, her fingers reaching for Steve's. Eventually he scanned her face; his features relaxing as he did so.  
A shiver of a whisper reasoned with him "You know he's right...I know you and I can tell, if you don't save him; you'll never forgive yourself." Rogers made to argue but after another glance at Romanoff he agreed.

"So what...we fight him and then hide him from SHIELD?"

"A lot easier said than done" Stark reminded.

"We could try getting to him before?" Banner suggested, Steve turned to face to group, his hand leaving Natasha's. "How do you propose we do that?"  
Banner's eyes found Romanoff's "We persuade him...get him alone, maybe then ambush him and bring him to you."  
Steve appeared frustrated, rubbing the back off his neck. He was stiff and cranky, Bucky's presence in this mission was making things a lot more complicated and tangled than it should be.  
He was a nagging pain that no matter how hard you tried, you could never iron out your own issues to defeat the crease.

"Fine! Is that the last of meaninglessly irrelevant demands?" Suffering silence beat them until it was deafening.

"Ok so the plan is get to Barnes, wait out this breaching mission and then just wait for Hydra to come to us and kick their arse?"  
Silence answered for them, holding their songs of concern taped shut.  
"Great plan guys."

The slamming door broke the hostages free and Nat couldn't hold back her flinch, her eyes ordered her teammates to leave the couple undisturbed and just go to bed.  
Natasha wanted to go and see Steve, check he was alright but she was torn.  
A piece of cotton split down the centre; should she leave him to struggle alone?  
 _No, he wouldn't if it was you.  
_ But if it was _you_ you'd want space.

Half-heartedly, Widow's solemn silhouette staggered into her room, at first oblivious to the shadow by her window.  
Slowly she walked to the window, suddenly seeing Steve she winced. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." Romanoff didn't know how to respond, what she could say to him. How she could help him, was as unknown as the ending of this mission.

"It's fine." Numb fingers fumbled for affection, Steve sucked in a breath as her hand rested on his shoulder. Her head hung and she went to resist; moving to pull away but Rogers muttered "Don't...I..." He turned to face her, staring down at her sad eyes.

Nat cracked "Steve...I..." damaged words hit him like a bullet, her orbs filling with water "What can I do?" Steve stared at her, confused "There's nothing to do, we can't change...this"  
A sob crashed from her battling voice box, "What's going on? How do you feel about...James." Steve's hand reached for Natasha's folded arms, opening them up "I just wish, I know it sounds bad, but I wish he hadn't been captured. I wish he'd just died and then none of this would be happening..."

They sat on the bed "It's not bad, you wish he hadn't experienced the pain Hydra put him through." She paused and then started "I wish...I had told you about him from the moment I'd first seen him, about our past."  
Steve shock his head "S'okay. I wasn't exactly desperate to hear it."  
Nat chuckled "And now?"  
"Now? I don't think I need to, I just want to get this mission over."

Rogers' fingers were circling her knee, she was suddenly desperate to be closer to him. Shifting slightly she moved, her breath mixing with his. "Can I ask you something?" His eyes never left his drawing fingers, but he acknowledged her.

"Why...er...why was it so hard to convince you for us to take him in? Surely it would be easier to get him back, if he was with us."  
He gasped, as if getting an electric shock, Nat immediately moved away. Steve stared at her with pained eyes and stood "That's just it! I'm terrified I won't get him back, the old Bucky I used to know...it would just be easier to hand him straight over to SHIELD. Selfish, but...I'd save myself a lot of suffering."

Natasha followed suit, reaching for him, standing close enough but not touching him. "I think that is why you have to...because you're Steve Rogers!" Her eyes lit up, willing his to do the same. "No matter how selfish it is that you think that...it's what makes you human. Nobody wants to do something they know...will cause them excruciating pain. But that's why you did it anyway, because you've always sacrificed yourself for ours." Her eyes welled up with tears but she swallowed them down, her hard exterior taking fold "And you'll continue to..." her shaking hand covered his heart "until that heart stops beating..."

Golden tints of shock shone from his azure hues. Gradually he raised his head to look at her, searching for the meaning behind those words...she believed in him...Natasha Romanoff...the Black Widow...the girl, the _woman_ who believed more than anything in the world that she was a monster was reassuring Steve that he wasn't.  
He cursed himself for being so selfish.

Instantaneously, Rogers charged forwards. Violating the tiniest gap between them, as his lips took hers in such a heated burst of passion an army of goose bumps invaded their connected bodies. The magical sensations racing against their skin; like fingers, caused them to shudder and shiver, drawing each other closer.  
The bright transformation of events was shocking enough; but the desperation and need to be vulnerable and exposed...the need to be naked like they'd never been before...was overwhelming.

They moved to the bed, clothes discarded and forgotten, their kisses crushing any other opportunities for further thought. They were animals, ravaged and unfed, clawing to feel something...to feel linked, by a powerful bond.  
One they'd named only once, something they'd only had a dab off. But together they lavished in the full mouth-watering taste of: companionship, trust and honesty, loyalty...now they drowned, in the taste of love.

A knock so subtle in the choir of exotic commotion, if it wasn't for their varied dosage of super serum they wouldn't have noticed it. Nonetheless they had no intention of suspending their current...intimacy.

The disturbance came again, but louder... _Did they not have ears? It wasn't that hard to guess what was happening in this room._

Nat's lips separated from Rogers' temporarily and her eyes caught his, they were pained to detach. Hastily Natasha called, whilst Cap's lips set to work on her neck, affecting Romanoff's tone to a darker, pleasure filled pitch. "One minute..." To which Steve's eyebrows raised questionably.  
She chuckled hitting his bare chest and taking in their current position, she was straddling him firmly, her hands on his back and his tenderly stroking up and down the back of her toned thighs.

Eagerly she crawled off his lap - the sooner she shooed away the disturbance the quicker she could return - in the corner of the room she spied his t-shirt, flipping it on and pursuing the thankfully closed door. Cap hooped of the bed in just his boxer shorts, following her, she reached for the handle and Roger's swung around the side of the door. So he'd be able to see who the intruder was but not let them see him.  
Natasha opened the door and gasped; of all the people she expected...

James Buchanan Barnes stood before her, Nat's eyes widened in terror, her lashes directed her to his face. Vacant and distant, Romanoff's eyes didn't have time to travel to the gun strapped to his hand before he lifted shooting straight at her. Paralysed Natasha would have been too late to move but faster than a breath Cap grabbed her pulling her behind the wall for coverage.

Nat kicked the door shut to try and slow James down slightly...who's she kidding?  
The Winter Soldier's come to play.

Nat and Steve drove to the other side of the room, Steve grabbing his iconic shield, Nat her hidden gun and hastily Rogers' pulled on his jeans then the door was kicked in and Steve pulled Nat behind his shield, she leaped as a bullet grazed her shoulder.  
Cap leaped, chucking the shield at their imposter and then running to him, throwing the Soldier slightly as Nat charged the other way. He was distracted by Steve and hadn't seen her strangling thighs coming to climb around his neck.

Straight away he jumped, letting his weight slam him against the floor, Nat's back connected with full force and her element of surprise was exchanged.  
Whilst Bucky was down Steve kicked and punched his stomach, giving Widow the time to roll backwards and charge out the door grabbing his hand as she did so.  
The pain from causing Bucky any resemblance of agony shone clearer and brighter in Rogers' eyes, than the sun on a summer's skin-burning day.

However the time to reflect on that was limited, the two Avengers rushed into the lounge to come face to face with the heaviest arm-fire they'd seen since the Chitauri battle in New York.  
Their usually cramp-enough temporary living room was microscopic filled with their other fellow avengers; including the Maximoff twins, kneeled on the ground, their heads on their hands with at least 20 other armed Hydra Agents, guns so far jabbed into their friend's heads Nat was surprised they hadn't impaled them.

Romanoff growled, her eyes seeking for who to shoot first, but a nudge from Steve was enough to bring her senses back to her; it would be impulsively suicidal. And most likely get one of her friends killed, Nat's eyes found Wanda.  
 _I'm sorry._ They silently spoke to each other.

Stark suddenly made a muffled warning which was silenced by his head being slammed against the floor, he was out cold.  
Out of the blue, Bucky knocked Steve down on his knees. Natasha turned her gun pressed between the tight space between the Winter Soldier and the Black Widow.

 _SHOOT HIM! SHOOT...DO IT!  
_ Her blood vessels flooded with guilt, why couldn't she do it? Her eyes stayed fixed on his, her teeth clenched and she had to hold herself back from spitting in his face, but she couldn't pull that bloody trigger.

A groan from Pietro summoned Nat's will to do it, her finger tightened around the trigger "I wouldn't do that if I were you."  
All heads turned to face that distinctive voice, Romanoff could recognise it anywhere.

Her head turned, whilst doing so James disarmed her and had her down on her knees in seconds, his hand resting on her head and neck...one move and he'd break her spine before she could summon a single syllable.  
A sly smirk smothered her smile as Agent Romanoff eyed Alexander Pierce, her snarl was dripping with loath "Fury put two bullets in your chest, I'd ask how you're here but by looking at what you and Strucker have been busy cooking up in your lab, nothing will surprise me anymore." Romanoff's cold eyes directed his attention to the enhanced twins.

Pierce placed his back to the Avengers, his hands clamping together at the sight of the twins "And here I thought Agent Barnes was just being sceptical when he came to me with his concerns for Wanda's loyalties." His finger ran down the soft skin of her cheek causing Pietro to make his presence known by struggling forward, grunting in resentment for the man before him.  
Pierce turned his attention to Pietro "Ah! The brother...and here I thought I'd made myself crystal. What does Hydra strive for in a soldier."

Barton spat something under his breath which he was lucky wasn't heard by Alexander.  
When Quicksilver didn't answer, Pierce bent forward, his fingers piercing Wanda's forehead until she was screaming, it must be something to do with her abilities. Pietro yelled desperate for his sister to be left alone "Efficacy and Independence!" He chanted.

Pierce stepped away from Wanda, satisfied for the moment "Then you should have known better than to follow you're foolish sister and her pathetic schemes."  
He then returned to stare at the rest of the Avengers "Get them shackled and then loaded onto the jets, I don't want to be in the sight of them any longer than necessary, but first...search them." He pointed to Bucky who still held Natasha firmly "Agent Barnes has the honours."  
Alexander Pierce then fled.  
A chorus of sick laughter encircled Romanoff as she was dragged to her feet in the centre of her team, Barnes twisted her arm behind her back and shoved her against him, they were agonisingly close.

Romanoff bit her lip, drawing blood as her eyes rested on Steve's grimacing face, whilst James hands snatched at her exposed body. She was just thankful she was still wearing underwear under Rogers' massive t-shirt, but just when Barnes' hand got a little...intrusive Romanoff lost it, her head flew backwards connecting with his and stunning him for a second, she spun her arm free and stepped away from him and right into an electroshock staff.

Pain spammed her body as she landed on the ground, the corners of her vision darkening as the Avengers' were quickly pulled to their feet, before the darkness claimed her as their own she saw Steve's tormented eyes never leaving her face.

* * *

It was so dark.  
Too dark to see through, she'd been squinting for at least 10 minutes.

Panic built in her bones, the light was out... _the light in her tunnel._

 _No!_ Don't be absurd Romanoff.

Blinding her for more than she'd be comfortable with, a light...no the sun turned on. It was that burning, after her eyes had adjusted she looked around.  
Natasha was hanging from the ceiling by chains, she was at least 6ft from the floor. She was in a metal box, it was really long however the width was barely 5 metres.  
On the metal wall in front of her was a projection, with a shock Nat gasped her eyes finally seeing what was on the projection:  
It showed the inside of multiple other cages like her own, they were filled with the other Avengers, unlike her cage non of them were hanging from the ceiling.

\- Steve was strapped to a bed by many sets of chains, though Nat couldn't tell what they were made of. Had to be something rare if it could hold Rogers.  
\- Wanda seemed to be encircled by some sort of force-field, probably disrupting her from using her powers.  
\- Pietro also had a force-field though this one moulded to his body and from the looks of things the only allowance it made was for his breathing. And even then it appeared that he was struggling.  
\- Thor's cage was by far the biggest, he was able to walk around but given the space it was incredibly limited. His arms were attached to massive chains that rain along the ground like train-tracks. If he tried to walk in any other direction than back and forth they'd be sucked into the floor and would hold him frozen in place.

The remaining Avengers: Barton, Stark and Banner weren't chained at all:

\- Barton had a square ceil with a wooden bed in the corner  
\- Stark had the exact same except his bed was cushioned (slightly irritating to the spy)  
\- Banner pretty much had the same except his ceil was by far the smallest of them all, even smaller than Natasha's. She could only assume if he turned into the Hulk, the walls wouldn't expand for him, therefore he'd be completely trapped or (God forbid) injured as the Hulk.

Frantically Natasha began screaming as her orbs absorbed the image of Steve.  
"Steve! STEVE!" It wasn't until all the Avengers started that Nat realised how surprised she was that Hydra would let them communicate. Their faces all turned to their own projectors and they ran straight to Romanoff, well the image of Romanoff.

Perhaps Hydra had only just shown them the projector?

"Nat! Nat are you okay?" Tears streaked Tasha's face as she saw relief and fear mix in Cap's blue hues. "As ok as I can be whilst here. Wha...what happened?"  
Before anybody could explain another image on the screen appeared and Natasha flinched seeing Barnes in his own ceil, why did he have one?  
Except there were a bunch of doctors in with him and a big leather chair attached to millions of pounds worth of hospital and digital equipment.  
Bucky was pushed back into the chair, he wore fear like a favourite t-shirt.

Widow gulped and grimaced hearing his silenced screams as electric currents passed through his veins, they were wiping his memory. By everybody else's reactions Nat knew they were being shown the same footage.  
After 5 more excruciating minutes where the Avengers trespassed on James Buchanan Barnes' own secret suffering the screens went dark and Natasha began to scream.  
Even whilst she was doing it she knew she shouldn't be.

 _This is **not** how the Black Widow would act._ A stern voice in her head informed, but Tasha didn't care.

Her screams lasted for what felt like years, despite her struggle for breath and the aching pain growing in her arms - she guested both her shoulders were already dislocated but the pain had been numbed by the concern and shock for her friends, now they were gone she had nothing else to do other than endure the drenching feeling of her own body painfully torturing her - she keep going.  
Until the shape of a door imprinted into the wall to the right of Romanoff, then slowly the full shape was drawn and Alexander Pierce walked into the room "I can tell by your joyful singing that you like your knew place, would it make you feel any better if I told you it's rent free?"

His crooked grin set Tasha's teeth on edge, but like a good little spy she hide her emotions, only now coming to her senses. She remained silent avoiding the careful spoken bait he laid out for her, after a while of ignorance Pierce finally asked "So what do you think of Barnes? Rather clever how we've managed to..."

"Destroy him? Yeah wonderful, when you're not too busy ruining the remainder of his life, would you mind letting me have a go?" The sarcasm dripped from her tongue like a leaking pipe.  
Pierce placed his hands on his hips "Well now that you mention it, I'm not wrong in presuming your feels for Mr Barnes are non-existent." Nat's eyes lowered in her attempt to keep her pain out of voice, he wasn't wrong Natasha no longer felt...well actually that's a lie, Natasha does have feelings for him.  
She has feelings and opinions towards and about everybody. _But_ the feelings Pierce was referring too were...fictional.

However she had to play it vague, this could easily be her ticket out of here. "What do my feels towards James have to do with anything?"

Out of the darkness, Pierce pulled a circular bottom which he pressed like a trigger, deep amusement at Widow's pained expression when the chains suddenly loosen and before she can do anything she's crashing to the ground.  
It's speeding towards her, consuming her entire view and she's about to slam into the metal floor...  
Bang!  
The chain pulls back, her feet are a hair of the ground. Idly her toe reaches for the comfort of having some stability, some strength to hold her up.  
Pierce's pinching fingers clutch Nat's chin stealing her view of the floor and replacing it with his worn, wrinkled face, truthfully Tasha would rather stare at the floor.

"Everything!" He snapped and instantly the projection was back and Romanoff looked up to see her friends' previous conversations stalled as they saw she was looking at them, seeping into the shadows Pierce disappeared and Natasha felt a gasp of relief as her foot finally balanced on the floor.  
Precipitously, she was thrown like autumn leaves in October into the air, returning to her dangling height.


	12. An occuring thought

They Avengers' must have been their for at least over 24hours, because the next day...  
Or whenever it was! Basically the next time Nat was visited it wasn't be any figure of importance, just some random thug Hydra had sent to get whatever plan they had moving.

She didn't know what was worse; the fact that they thought so little of her to send a simple baboon to beat her up.  
Or the fact they were giving her so little attention, had her plan back-fired already?

Suddenly the projection was brought back to life, but this time she saw all her friends for a mere 5 minutes before Steve's screen was expanded and the others discarded.  
She knew how she looked: her eyes were wide and constantly crossing-over, jumping faster than flies and never seeing the same thing again. Loose strands of tangled fur replaced her silky crimson locks, it was a bag of clumps and knots. She was constantly shivering despite her sweating body, her skin was thick and hot and Steve's t-shirt was no longer recognisable. It stuck to her like a second skin and did little to contain her body temperature.

But knowing all that summed up for nothing when she saw Rogers' terrified orbs trying to absorb her current state, Natasha was actually pleased; other than the constant clothing of worry and hatred he looked the same, just his cheeks lead you to believe he was straining as the brightness shone darker than usual.  
Though the sight of a Hydra agent entering his cell made her pleasure turn to pain, they were going to torture them; using each other as bait.

Rogers' barely glanced at the man in his cell, his eyes never leaving Romanoff's as she was brutally lowered so her feet were planted on the ground, just looking at her state sent a shiver down his spine.  
Unlike when Pierce had threatened her - Nat's body language had implied Romanoff's screen had been turned off, however all the remaining Avengers' hadn't and they'd all caught the disturbing interaction - Nat wasn't trying to hold her own weight, clearly she was severally weakened.

Despite the Agent in Steve's cell and the medical table, which was now housing numerous instruments with different shapes, pointed edges and jagged spikes, Hydra made no move towards him. The man simply paced before Rogers' trying to steal his eyes, which were glued to Tasha.  
Suddenly, Cap's chin jerked upwards, Nat couldn't catch the muffled questions asked as the thug pounced around. She almost laughed at his dodging state, _come on buddy it wasn't like she was gonna put up a fight...But Steve would,_ Nat knew how the game worked, Hydra asked whatever the hell they wanted and Rogers' being a predictable, loveable gentlemen answered as long as his little spider didn't get harmed.

Steve's jaw was set, clearly struggling whether to give away the information. Before she could stop herself an electrical impulse contorted her veins and her voice snapped "Steve...don't!" His attention returned to Romanoff as her statement revolved in a fist pounding twice into her stomach, her face crumbled in agony.

A growl escaped his lips, but at least Nat had gotten his attention. Even though she could handle herself a few punches she saved the suffering for the real questions of this interrogation by speaking with her eyes. She knew she could say a thousand more words with her verdant orbs, than her mouth could even attempt to utter whilst experiencing the painful duration of uneven rhythm and beat of kicks and hits.  
 _DON'T._  
She urged as if it was her last breath, the confusion set alight in his eyes was transported through the screen as Nat begged him to trust her.  
 _She could do this_.  
She willed him to just _pretend_ the screen wasn't on, act as if he didn't know she'd be receiving the rear end of his interrogation.

More questions were shared but Cap's jaw was tightly sealed, however what followed shortly after wasn't short lived.

Romanoff slide across the floor as the momentum of being beaten swung her chains, her fingers clawed against the floor as she tried to stop the room from spinning. When green met blue everything straightened, he was her holding point.  
 _She was doing this for him._

Though she'd be lying if she said she wasn't desperate for a breather, usually whenever she has been interrogated or tortured Romanoff has always been able to tell herself that it wasn't real, believe it or not but she was able to say to herself that she was imagining the pain and if that didn't work then she'd push the pain down and deal with it later; her only assurance being that it would end.

However, right now was the first time Nat couldn't do that. No matter how much she tried it was too much and all because she had to look strong in front of the one person she'd shown her real weakness, otherwise he'd spill every little secret SHIELD had left that hadn't already been uncovered by Hydra.

Finally the interrogation stopped, leaving Romanoff bloody and beaten. Her tears turned to blood as the chains released her and a groan fell from her lips as she crashed forwards. At the very last second possible the man - who Nat was bitterly happy to see had bloody hands as bloody as her own, though how much of that blood belonged to him she couldn't tell - caught her bare form and Romanoff almost allowed herself to let somebody else support her when he viciously threw her against the wall of her ceil.

Soon after he left, spitting at her feet as he did so.  
The word pain was too dainty to describe what Widow was feeling, the lexis lost all its refinement as her wounds of misery and torment crept on her shuddering body like a crawling toddler. Grief filled her system as Natasha mourned the fight and will of the Black Widow, who crumbled before her like a shadow showing the broken soul of a warrior.

The name Widow finally related to Romanoff's broken spirit, no longer meaning she was the ferociously deadly spider but in fact a mourning individual.

But what really shattered her resistance was Steve's suffering surface, Romanoff saw it like he was in front of her - really in front of her, next to instead of in another bloody room - the misery of knowing he had done this to her. Steve's actions had repeated what they've always done, hurt his loved ones. Chipped away at them until there was no more love for him, Nat bit down the shiver rising from her body and made to relieve his anguish but was interrupted by the unwelcome presence of Alexander Pierce, who stood over hawk-like, enjoying the ravishing sight of his prey's defiance slowly fading as her mind began to decay due to the actions of her loved one.

From somewhere buried deep under the rumble of refusal a fire was burning, _That's exactly what he wants her to think!_  
Pierce wants Natasha to turn on Steve, he wants her to look at Cap with a hatred fuelled by a jaw-dropping malice, then he'll have fully succeeded in not only breaking the Avengers' leader, but by also converting one of SHIELD's last remaining advantages into a newly refined Hydra weapon.

 _Well, not if I have anything to do with it!_ The Black Widow was merely biding her time, she'd take her shot, healing and then strike.

Pierce then surprised the Widow by gently placing his hands on her small arms and lifting her up, resting her weakened body against his own as he lead her out of the cell.  
In the distance she heard Steve screaming her name, one last look at the projection showed not just Cap but all the Avengers. Their reactions were diverse:

\- Thor already looked like he'd seen her ghost, his face stricken with regret,  
\- Stark placed his head in his hands,  
\- Bruce kept his eyes down, his body shaking uncontrollably - probably trying to stay calm,  
\- Clint stormed off his bed, shouting as he pounded his fist against the wall, his blood spitting on the camera,  
\- Wanda tried to conceal a sob as warm tears evacuated her glazed eyes,  
\- Pietro finally made a break for it, penetrating his force-field for a second as his fury drove him to vanquish his anger by moving, his speed left marks against the floor. Rapidly he fell down again, gasping for air as the compact power moulded to his body again.

 _Little did Romanoff know:_ the footage in Natasha's room changed to that of her and Pierce walking down the hallway, the Avengers' held their breath watching their friend stumble down the hall.

Nat didn't get another look at Rogers' before she was in the corridor, she accepted Pierce's help and noted how the dark, gloomy hallway was deserted. _Where were the guards?  
_

Though Nat wasn't going to be stupid and ignore this chance for freedom by questioning Hydra's security measures. Idly she geared herself up, keeping the tightening and clenching of her muscles unnoticeable as Pierce made his way further down the hallway. On the right Nat noticed a panel randomly placed on the wall at hand height. Slowly the pieces fell into place, as the image of the door engraving into her metal cell struck her eyes.

Quickly, Natasha counted the negatives and positives; she had just as much of a chance as opening that door and finding her friends as finding heavily armed soldiers ready to tackle her. Plus there was always the possibility that it wasn't a door opening at all, now that would be embarrassing, Tasha cocked an eyebrow.

Suddenly, Natasha's left calf caught Pierce's leg and she went to trip but pulled out at the last minute and let him face plant to the floor. Instantly she kicked him in the stomach and when he tried to stand up she knocked him out by punching him in the head. Not wasting a second; assuming their were cameras in the hall and guards were already on their way, Romanoff raised his limp hand against the scanner.  
A robotic voice spoke stoically. "Alexander Pierce." followed by a amazingly satisfying beep as the door imprinted and then opened, Natasha charged through, leaving Pierce's body on the floor.

Excitement flooded her nerves, taking charge as a devious army invaded her body. Her, slightly too appreciative, smile was smacked off her face after her eyes caught up with the ever-changing image in front of her.  
Her pleasure shifted to pain as she saw before her was a startled James Buchanan Barnes, lad back - shirtless she might add - in his brainwashing chair. _It was odd, he appeared relatively comfortable in a chair used to torture him._

Her desperation dragged out a whisper "No..." Bucky's eyes were a mixture of amusement and resent as he shifted slightly, his reaction slightly emphasised for the viewers on the screen. Nat turned to look at the projection, seeing her friends again.  
Her mind finally shifted to the realisation of a shattering dream, she turned automatically and felt the sinking feeling of butterflies in her stomach reminding her of that stomach-churning shift when you were on a rollercoaster ride and you reached the top and waited that nerve-raking second to return shooting to the ground.  
The engraved door folded back into a metal cell and Romanoff frantically began throwing her body against the wall "No!" Her voice broke out into a husky crack.

"Nooo! No...no..." Oddly the image of herself breaking outside of Steve's door all those nights ago, appeared in her head, trying to get him to answer her. Just like she'd known then and just like she knew now...she wasn't going to be let in - or in this case out.

Romanoff was so fucking disappointed with herself.  
 _Out of all the cells her friends were being kept in she had to walk into this one._

A groan escapes her mouth as she slides down the wall, scratching her bear legs against the hard surface. Surprisingly, James gets up and lifts Nat into his arms and walks her towards the chair, immediately Romanoff starts panicking "No! Get me away from that thing...James stop!"  
Her struggles to get away make him stop walking, he couldn't risk dropping her. Silently he turns to the wall opposite the projection and quietly he sits down, Nat squirms to get out of his reach but she feels completely and utterly drained.

Her head rests against his shoulder and her back leans against his chest, as she closes her eyes letting the darkness consume her.

* * *

Natasha's eyes opened in an even darker setting, like the light into the cell followed regular time - like day and night etc.  
Underneath her body she felt the deep breaths of a peaceful body and quickly remembered Barnes resting her against him, her eyes travelled down her body, seeing Steve's soaking wet t-shirt clinging to her skin, keeping her cold and dampening Bucky's warming temperature. Her eyes settled on Barnes' arm around her waist, slowly she asked herself what it meant.

Nat knew Bucky still cared greatly for her, at least before they'd been captured he had. But after their capture she had to ask herself whether or not he'd played her, the finality he'd used when pursuing her and Rogers' not long ago suggested otherwise.  
A clear voice spoke in her head _The problem with James is you never know which actions are his and which are Hydra's. He's their number one go to agent. Over time his thoughts have moulded into theirs, that's why you struggle to trust him and that's why his treatment towards you is always changing. I told you and Steve that it'd be difficult to finally separate them and him._

Natasha spun forwards, just jarring James, and eyed his arm as it instinctively tightened around her waist. She settled herself back against his chest, stopping him from grabbing at her in his not so unconscious slumber.  
Romanoff's eyes travelled to the projection again, the majority of the Avengers were asleep; yep definitely night time.

Finally green orbs searched for the brown watcher, Romanoff gasped as Wanda nodded at her; reassuring the spy that the voice in her head had been Maximoff. Natasha also saw the strain it had taken on the young girl "Wanda get some rest, please." Her voice was so silent Nat almost didn't hear it but somehow Witch did. Idly she nodded, agony flashed in her eyes like a flame reflected from a fire.

Widow finally got a better look at Wanda's force-field. It was attached to many other wires, like veins. Natasha concealed her gasp realising what it was meant to represent; an eye.  
Thoughts started spinning faster and faster until Natasha had a clear idea of what Hydra was planning, they were going to use Witch's abilities to send an image...maybe a nightmare or a hallucination to each member of the Avengers.  
Make them crack one by one, until there was nothing left.

Natasha's breathing increased and Bucky shifted in his sleep slightly, wrapping another arm around her waist. "Get some sleep Tash." He spoke in her ear, not realising the affect it had on her, immediately Nat wanted to escape his hold. Reluctantly Romanoff let him hold her, imagining what Steve must have thought when she'd fallen asleep in his arms.  
Guilt threatened to trickle from her eyes but Romanoff swallowed them; she couldn't afford to worry about something so insignificant - but yet painful - as jealousy and she needed to save water so crying was not going to help.

After another daunting 10 seconds Tasha's eyes found the fresh t-shirt waiting for her by the wall where she'd come in from, she could tell that was where the door was by the blood from her knuckles, after beating it senselessly, dotting the wall.

Her temptation to get out of this cold skin was crushed when she remembered Bucky was shirtless and that was most likely meant for him, Nat cursed her body which swiftly remembered his defined abs against her back; _how was he not freezing?_

Once again Natasha looked up at the projection, her eyes catching Steve watchfully. Instantly she moved to get out of Bucky's protective arms, but Steve's sad eyes held her in place, he shock his head and smiled at her.  
Romanoff didn't have the heart to smile back, she felt she was teasing him; mocking almost. For a while they just stared at each other, nothing else to do besides that, Nat didn't know how long they'd looked at each other but Tasha saw Steve struggling to keep his eyes open more than once.  
"Steve" the sound of her voice was music to his ears, even though he flinched at the sudden evacuation of silence. "Get some rest, please." He frowned, if she was staying up he wanted to as well. But she narrowed her orbs knowingly, finally he lay back against the bed, sinking into the comfy mattress of the chair; as soon as his eyelids shut there was nothing Nat could do but watch.

She wished it was his arms keeping her warm, whilst imagining him holding her Romanoff got lost in past memories of waking up beside him. Once more she drifted into sleep only waking several hours later to see her Avengers were mostly up, except Thor who was snoring loudly.  
As soon as she woke, she began laughing causing Stark to stare at her with a smirk on his face "Trust you to be smiling at a time like this Red." that made Nat's laughter harder to contain and soon Barton asked her, sleep still peeping from his eyes "What the fuck are you laughing at Romanoff?"

She pointed to Thor, he was lying on the ground, his stomach on the ground, his head turned to the side so his snoring was still audible. Slowly the amusement faded from her eyes as she realised how cold that had been, the previously smirking boys stared at her, seeing what had stopped her.  
Widow soon realised, rather happy she'd only just noticed, James' arms were no longer draped around her acting as a bed sheet.

Pietro, who was crouched against his cell wall, cheeks white as a ghost answered her unspoken question "He was collected this morning, he begged that they leave you here." She stiffened, stifling a gulp.  
Before Stark could come back with a witty remark Barton interrupted "You alright kid?" Pietro didn't acknowledge Clint, just moved on "I'm guessing you've all experienced this sort of thing before."  
Tony responded "Not as extreme as this."  
To which Thor, who'd just woken, retorted "You? You've been in captivity before?"

Instead of arguing back Tony enjoyed the soft laughter that followed, immediately after a cell door opened in his cell and Stark stood, tensing as he did so. Pierce walked in glaring, Nat was pleased to see he looked almost as bad as she did with a black eye and fat lip.  
"Walk with me Mr Stark." He ordered, Stark turned to the screen "What...you're not scared I'll beat you like Romanoff?" Pierce growled staring at the defiantly laughing Barton, Banner and Thor.  
"No where near as concerned, now come along." He opened the door for Tony who turned back to the projector, winking as he did so "I'll have you know I can be much worse, but only on my time of month."  
The little humour, however inappropriate or half-hearted was a big help. It gave Nat hope that, well if Stark was still cracking jokes - no matter how bad - at least he was okay.

As soon as Tony left - this time no camera following him out the corridor - Barnes returned, his eyes darker and Nat jumped immediately she turned to the opposite side of the room, cautious as to where he'd been. _He must have something to do with Stark._  
Before she could ask he picked up the discarded t-shirt on the floor, having collected one from somewhere else, and handed it to Natasha.

Out of the surrounding shadows crept a hand of possession, it wrapped around Romanoff like a second skin and held her to her most impulsive desires.  
Quickly, Nat turned her back to him raising the old rag; she wasn't surprised to find her reluctance to let it go, despite everything that t-shirt had been through it was the closest - at that precise moment - that she was to Rogers and somehow it still seized Steve's singular smell.

In a blink she'd pulled off his top and replaced it with the spare, when she turned she was pleasantly surprised to see James had turned his back to her to give her privacy. As if sensing her staring at him he too spun to face her, for a while they just stared at each other and then the thoughts kept bubbling until she was raising her t-shirt.

Bucky's eyes followed her movement as Natasha revealed her bullet wound scar just above her hipbone "Do you remember giving this to me?" her voice was demanding.  
James gulped before sadly stating "No, no I don't. How did...when did I?"

The memory shattered Nat's vision "That doesn't matter, do you remember leaving me?" These were questions Widow longed answers for, like a forgotten kiss, ever since the events happened. Just like now she longed for Steve's protective arms to hold her.

Nat couldn't tell if he was avoiding the second question or not because he pressed her for the first. "When, Natasha?" Thankfully her voice didn't betray her as she spoke the same words she'd once shared with Cap, adapting it to the correct time period. "Ten years ago, I was escorting a nuclear engineer out of Iran. Somebody shot out my tires near Odessa. We lost control, went straight over a cliff. I pulled us out. But you...the Winter Solider was there. I was covering my engineer so _you_ shot him straight through me."  
A pained expression contorted Bucky's regularly crystal calm exterior.

She stepped up to him, it was time Nat did her own investigation, she shoved him backwards, gentler than she'd intended. _Well she was still recovering._ "Now, I've answered your question...Answer mine!" A fire filled firm eyes, but he backed down, settling into a crouch.

"I didn't know I was leaving...after that night I wanted to protect you, that's all I ever wanted to do. But I couldn't...I was in the wrong mind set, I should have fought harder!" He growled and Nat concluded "They forced you..."  
James bowed his head, and asked his next question "Did...did you love me?"

Silently Romanoff sinks to the floor, feeling old wounds and scars reopening, there were too many this time. Too many new ones threatening to attack her body, if she spoke about this Nat was sure she wouldn't be able to stop bleeding, her heart pumping the blood faster and faster out of her numerous love wounds.

"Yes..."

That's all she can manage to say as the word vividly toys with his emotions, daring him to act but also punishing him by denying his feelings. He takes 1 step forward but then 2 back.  
Silently he asks, as their bodies shudder and shiver from the painfully daunting questions, "Do you still love me?" His head falls as he interprets the answer.

Astonishing even herself her mouth moves before her head "Yes, but not for the reason you think." Without waiting for him to respond Natasha elaborates, only just remembering the intruding audience behind her, she stays still ignoring them and goes on to explain what's been holding her back all this time.

"When you fall in love" her voice is filled with promise of a sunshine romance, which then cracked "And they break your heart, it takes a piece of you away. It steals it...the piece you gave to them is gone...and you can _never_ get it back. You can never give that same part of yourself to somebody else." No tears fall, which for once demonstrates her broken heart more than if she was crying a river.  
"That's why...after you broke my heart I thought love was unfair - and I shut myself off, I sealed those bridges for a long time, - that's why people fall out of love so easily...because they change during it. And you leaving me...no matter if it wasn't your fault...changed me, before I met you I would have cut myself off. I would have distanced myself from everybody, not just people I loved.  
It took time but I let people in...eventually" A playful smile turned the corners of her mouth up, you have no idea how happy she was that the rock pushing down on her heart was being lifted.

"Love is trust and trust is a power...the whole point of love is giving somebody that power. It all comes down to whether they wield it or not. And that's why we can't be, I'm not brave enough to give you that kind of power again Buck...I'm sorry but I don't trust _myself_ enough to do that. Truthfully, those feelings I felt were what you took from me.

"But I do love you, because even though you hurt me. You took away that poisonous pit in my stomach that told me not to love because I was a monster, and so were you." As the remaining words dripped from her mouth she felt her wall breaking that little bit more "I think I'm just realising now why we worked, because we didn't believe we were good enough for better people.  
So, I'm thanking you, because yes you cut me, but that left me open in a way I hadn't been before and that left room for somebody to give me a new part of myself."

Natasha instantly turned away from him, retreating to the opposite corner and wrapping herself in Steve's shirt, even if she wanted to see him she knew looking at his pained face would break her in ways she hadn't been broken in before.  
Desperately her eyes strayed from the projection, she was terrified to look, terrified to see Steve's reaction.

Suddenly the door opened and Nat sprang up to see a Pierce, who at first ignored Natasha, he stepped into the room and grabbed Bucky forcefully. Romanoff didn't dare try and escape, still weary of Stark's lack of sarcasm. As soon as Barnes left Pierce grabbed Nat, pulling her up by her hair and dragged her from his cell.  
She kicked out but was too deprived of energy and before she new it she was back in her own cell, this time her arms were chained to the wall, thankfully not the ceiling.

* * *

The painful days ticked on and they were all suffering, in Stark's absence there was nothing holding the team back from doubting his survival. It was cruel and harsh to think but so was Hydra.  
Eventually all members had been tortured or beaten, the most recent had been Barton. The entire time Nat had been yelling - which earned herself some pretty blunt punches - to fight it. Keep going, now they were all starving and with no water death was only round the corner. Until finally, Stark returned, he didn't look beaten or hurt, he looked healthier than when he'd left. Despite the bombardment of questions he refused to acknowledge their existence which honestly was the scariest thing Nat had experienced to date.

The only people left who hadn't been tortured were the Maximoff twins, which still managed to keep the flame of hope alive in the pouring rain.  
It was another day when somebody entered Pietro's cell, it was James Barnes. Ever since Natasha's separation; Barnes' cell had been empty. He marched in with a menacing glare and the entire team stiffened, immediately he began beating Pietro senseless.

Quicksilver couldn't even move to react to the assault due to the concealment of his force-field. It was painful to hear never mind watch, and worst of all was Wanda's reaction, she acted as if she was the one being beaten. Throwing herself across her force-field with everything she had, suddenly in the chaos that followed Pietro took a blow to the head, his complexion red as a rose as he fell forwards.

At that piercing moment Natasha steeled herself, seeing Scarlet Witch tense herself. All at once, Wanda snapped, red sparks leaped from her kneeling form like water dripping off a wet body. They formed cracks in the force-field until it shattered into tiny pieces of near invisible glass.  
Wanda didn't hesitate suddenly the door to her cell opened and Witch was running down the cell, seconds later she marched into Pietro's cell, Bucky turned to her but before he could do anything her hand gripped the air as if a ball of steel was within her grip. James was lifted into the air and hurtled towards Pietro whose force-field also smashed after the shear force from Maximoff.

They wasted no time and left the cell, a fleeting thought fought its way to the surface of Tasha's skull; it would be so much easier for them to leave without a backwards glance.  
 _If it was Natasha in that position, no matter how much she loved the Avengers, she knew that thought would be pressing against her, though Wanda had been right - no matter how much easier it would be, Nat would die for her teammates._

It's because of that torturing thought that Wanda's spirals of destruction reached through the confining cages and crushed any confinements the team are trapped to. Now, they were on the move, they'd come too far to not go all the way; no matter if that meant freedom or death.  
Wanda had risked to much and Nat wasn't gonna hold back, suddenly her cell door clashed open and Romanoff took a fleeting glance at the screen; Banner and Thor were already out and Wanda was heading to Barton next.

Tasha saw a bunch of guards entering her cell and she dove into a rollie-pollie, when she came out she was right next the first guards feet. The click of a gun made Nat grab him by the throat and spin, Natasha hated using other humans for shield's but...with pleasure she recognised the thug who'd beaten both her and Rogers - by making his actions lead to it - so she was more than thrilled that he was now protecting her, in other words.

Once the remaining guards had wasted a lot of their ammunition on their co-worker Romanoff threw his body at the nearest guard and leaped from behind, kicking the other in the chest and side-stepping another punch. She snarled as a bullet grazed her arm and stepped up the guys body, kicking him in the groan and chin before flipping forwards and out the door.

Further down the corridor Natasha heard Barton yell "Tasha!" She didn't even turn but yelled "I'm getting Rogers and Stark, meet you guys up there!" She pointed upwards, assuming they were underground. The distant sound of gunfire distracted Clint from arguing.  
Otherwise it would have been dangerous splitting up, but with Wanda as long as everyone else stayed together it should be fine.  
Nat found another door but before she could do anything she noticed the hand scanner, frantically she began to panic. She was about to call for Wanda but Barnes appeared terrifying Romanoff as he did so.

Without questions asked James placed his hand on the scanner and the door opened straight away; she guessed Barnes was more trusted than she thought. Stark bounded towards them and wrapped Nat in a fleeting hug before they continued further down the corridor. Finally they came to the last scanner, opened it and Steve jumped out, Stark and Barnes leaped backwards whereas Nat ran forwards her legs wrapping around Steve as he lifted her up into a clinging caress.

Steve didn't say anything at the sight of James but patted Tony's back and they continued down the corridor "Where's the others?" Tony's voice bounced off the silent walls "They had to get Clint, they're all together though. Wanda's keeping tabs on us all, we need to get up...but which..?" Bucky heard all he wanted to hear and took the lead, the thought that he could be betraying them clearly crossed Cap and Iron Man's faces but Nat cocked an eye before following; there wasn't time for doubts.  
An alarm was blaring and drowning out the chorus of rushed and short breaths. As they rounded the corner they came face to face with a huddle of guards without waiting for a second to spare Steve and Bucky tackled the first row whilst Tony knocked out a few with several powerful punches and Nat brought up the rear, stopping only to grab some guns off the fallen guards. She chucked one to Stark whilst keeping two to herself and suddenly they reached a door. Steve kicked it in straight away and a blinding light covered their vision as they rocked forwards, jumping from the door and landing in a cushion of snow.

Their surroundings included trees, mountains and a magnificent view, Nat spun eyeing the rest of the facility and saw a spark of red leaping into the air, it came from a gap between two heavily guarded doors.  
Nat pointed it out and began running at fall speed, the cold only just catching up to her as a breeze blew her red curls around her face.

The Avengers charged through the gates of hell and halted seeing the chaos exploding around them, Pietro and Wanda were in full swing using their powers as the best weapon as Thor - who'd left Mjolnir at the house - used his speed and strength to tackle anything that moved.  
Barton on the other hand had retrieved a gun from one of the guards and was shooting left, right and centre. His aim was just as good with a gun as a bow, but it wasn't as swift or refined.  
Banner on the other hand was standing next to Wanda allowing her to protect him, soon the Avengers ran to them, helping out hold of Hydra. Finally Nat yelled "What the hell are we waiting for? Let's get out of here." They began running for the gate when Stark froze "WAIT! I need to go back."  
Steve spun to him in pure rage, "Why? STARK!" Steve was now screaming at the shadow of his crazy friend, Steve moved as if to go and follow but Pietro yelled "I'll go, meet you by the forest!"

Wanda snapped after her brother, but Nat grabbed her attempt to follow, holding the twin back despite the pain withdrawing from Maximoff's weeping fingers. Sparks encircled the pair  
"Wanda...come on! We need to move." Barton's assuring tone brought the girl back who fled Romanoff's grip and the group began sprinting just as Hydra guards reappeared, they got out the clearance of the gates and were nearing the forest when an explosion rocked the hilly ground and the Avengers were thrown into the air.

Abruptly Thor and Barton regained their footing and helped Banner and Wanda up, James was standing at the front of the pack taking a reluctant hand from Wanda and leading her to the trees.  
Nat on the other hand, was a different story. She'd been closest to the explosion and had been properly jarred, her eye sight was endlessly spinning and her ears were laughing at the difficulty and lack of control the spy had over her senses.  
Without missing a beat Steve lifted her up in his arms, bridal style and chased his friends into the forest, Natasha clinging to him for dear life.

Once under the protection of the trees, despite Hydra's futile attempts to shot them, they were safe. For several more minutes they were staring at the gates, willing Pietro and Stark to return.  
"Come on Stark!" Natasha whispered to no one in particular to which Thor shouted "We should have never left them." Which resulted in Wanda collapsing to the ground. Her eyes closed and Nat knew she was reaching out for her brother, slowly Natasha sank down next to Wanda, taking her hand and she muttered "Come on, Wanda. Just clear your head." Maximoff took a deep breath, her eyes shut and then started snapping her watchful eyes open and she stood straight away, shock seeping off her like a mist.

Before Natasha could ask what was going on Bucky ran forward out of the shelter of the trees, clearly he'd waited too long. Gunfire still raged on and James had to take cover behind a cove of snow created from the previous explosion. Before Nat could think she chased after him; he was not getting himself killed because of Tony.  
Pietro would get through, he always did.

"Natasha!" Behind her Steve yelled, but Thor gripped his friends arm, they couldn't risk it anymore.

Soon Romanoff reached Barnes, ducking from fire during the process. "What the fuck are you doing Barnes?" she peeped around the corner; there was no chance he could get past this cove without getting shot.  
James stared around too, steeling himself and Nat grabbed his hand with hers; holding him in place. Her eyes spoke with more persuasion than her mouth could master. _Don't you dare!_

"It's practically suicide James." He shock her hold off "I don't care, it's my fault Natasha!" She was tempted to agree with him but she remembered what Wanda had told her; _The problem with James is you never know which actions are his and which are Hydra's..._ _that's why you struggle to trust him and that's why his treatment towards you is always changing._

Desperately Natasha reassured him, "No it's not Buck! Hydra's always been in your head, manipulating and abusing you until you can't tell the difference between their thoughts and your own."  
He stared at her, determined "Exactly Romanoff, that's why I have to fix this."  
Nat snarled, loosing patience as the snow shifted and she had to move further into the protection of the cove, closer to James.  
"Look! I agree you've acted like a dick, a pretty huge one at that...But getting shot now won't change that. There's nothing we can do except wait. If there were don't you think we'd be doing it?" Her rhetorical question lead him to think.

His body froze and he turned to her "You're right. But you said so yourself, I'm a monster...so maybe it'd be...okay if I died not being so monstrous whilst saving your friends' butts?" Nat glared "It would be the noble thing to do." He added which a touch of amusement in his voice.  
Nat spat a correction "It would be the _stupid_ thing to do!" He went to argue but a blue flicker of movement caught her eye.

Pietro landed next to them, Stark rolling out of his arms as he did so. Nat's gasp of relief subsided when she saw Pietro's movements were compact, she ran to him hearing Wanda's scream bouncing of the lining of her skull.  
He had a bullet wound in his side which was seeping blood, immediately Nat tore the bottom of her t-shirt and Wanda materialised beside her. She was crying, holding his cheeks and whispering.  
Given Pietro's speed Nat assumed that he was like Steve in the sense that everything about him was enhanced by speed; therefore he'd heal quicker but he'd also bleed quicker. He was lucky the wound hadn't touched anything series, but a not so series wound for a human could be exceptionally dangerous for somebody whose blood ran 10 times faster.

Pietro's eyes were glazed and unfocused, at Nat's back she heard Stark yelling; _this must be horrible for him, thinking the twins already hated him for creating the weapon that killed their parents and now...he might of got one of them killed.  
_ Widow felt dizzy at the thought, No! She wasn't going to let that happen.

"Wanda, I need you to stop the bleeding." Witch looked confused. "Wha...?"  
Nat repeated herself, her nerve exposed and impatient "Stop the bleeding!"  
She began to argue "But I could hurt..."  
Nat yelled, ripping more of her shirt to replace the dripping red material she'd previously used "JUST DO IT!"

Maximoff silenced and sealed her eyes, using every remaining bit of strength the twin had she put a mental plug in his bullet wound. Beneath them Pietro squirmed and behind the girls the frantic boys were causing quite a commotion, Romanoff screamed, her patience wearing thin as Wanda's concentration strayed slightly "Keep it down back there!"

The boys suddenly hushed and Natasha grinned; she couldn't let herself smile yet, Wanda was doing it. The blood stopped running, but Nat's appreciation and praise deteriorated as she saw the clustering strain rising higher than the confessing moon in her friends' eyes.

Natasha's voice resembled that strain "Barton!" Clint appeared before the detached spy who was trying to find the balance between patching up Pietro and looking professional; when you're trying to save a life it doesn't look good to have the same amount of pain and apprehension Wanda was comfortably wearing.

"I need something to wrap around his torso, strips of my t-shirt aren't gonna cut it."  
In the background she heard Stark, probably receiving a disapproving glance from Rogers "Not that we don't wanna see our little Red in her underwear, but hey! I'd hate for her to get hyperthermia."

Clint surprised Nat with a roll of bandages, apparently Pietro had been shot before they'd headed back and Stark had snagged a roll before leaving. Nat made quick work of the injury and whispered to Wanda "You can relax now, if you want." The twin eyed her carefully "Will it help if I keep it from running out?"  
Nat reluctantly nodded, not wanting the girl to waste all her energy right now, they still had a long distance to go before escaping the Hydra facility.

When Romanoff turned back to the conversation, leaving Wanda with her brother, she caught the last few tense statements she folded her arms in a commanding stance which spoke speeches, drawing attention from the boys.  
"We should talk about this later" Her voice stepped behind Steve's advancing body to Stark's retreating one, "Now we need to find cover and get as far away from them as we can." As if to emphasise her point an explosion rocked the land, Natasha not even flinching. She saw the guilt rising in Stark's posture and the last thing anybody needed was a lay in from their leader.  
Though Romanoff also observed Cap was hesitant to give it.

Steve and Thor lead the team away from the destruction unfolding around them, Barton - carrying Pietro with his sisters' help to ease the weight with her powers - and Wanda behind them with Banner not far behind and bringing up the rear was a miserable Tony, an ashamed Barnes and a stealthy silent Natasha, keeping tabs on the two most likely to fall behind due to the caging feeling of their own guilty suffering.  
Widow knew better than most, sometimes being trapped in your own heart was worse than a physical cage; though nothing could convince Romanoff to return to that hell hold of her own accord at that precise moment.

They wondered for hours until they reached the ending of the forest, the snow was melting away and the soft ground was a comfort under Nat's cold feet. She'd managed to hijack a piggy-back ride from Stark for the last few hours, during which she'd convinced him to spill the beans.  
As it turned out that day when Bucky had disappeared, had been because he'd been sent to break into Stark Tower and complete the mission originally tailored to be completed with Maximoff and Romanoff.

Of course he'd been successful and when he'd returned Stark had been sent to go and create a weapon Hydra had collected his equipment to make. Nat smiled up at him as she untangled herself from Tony's hunched backside, mocking her weight which she smacked his arm for, earning a smile, "What did you make?" His smile faded too quickly.  
"A bomb." Nat's mouth opened in panic but he reassured her "Don't worry, it doesn't work." Nat was still sceptical but Stark added as an after thought "But it also means I can't make it myself anytime in the foreseeable future."  
Nat bit her lip, unsure as whether that was a bad thing or not.

"Don't you think..." Her thought trailed of, the last thing she wanted to do was panic anybody further. She looked down the long line of Avengers, Quicksilver was looking livelier and limping along, using Clint as support rather than a human carrier. Wanda had her indifferent smile back, fighting between being concerned for her brother or angry at him. Barnes was daydreaming, but his shoulders weren't as slouched as before. Thor, Banner and Steve were conversing in an aimless matter, just making general chit-chat.  
No her thought was far too damaging to contribute to now.

Nonetheless Stark detected it "It was too easy? Maybe" he generally showed little concern over the matter, pocking his hands. "Perhaps they wanted us to escape, I mean we weren't exactly the most humbly honoured guests were we?" Nat chuckled but didn't speak on the matter, knowing the light-heartedness would flee faster than a flash.  
He nudged her shoulder playfully "Why don't we leave that conversation for Fury and the self-snobbish council?" Nat furrowed her brow. "You know...when you're not completely caught up in being a pretentious little playboy prat, you're actually quite a nice guy." Stark snorted as the rest of the team finally hesitated their pace, Nat's eyes darted forwards, her body following her vision.

They'd stopped at the top of a small village, with a shared look of regard Steve decided they should rest here, at least for one night.


	13. One night of peace

As soon as the Avengers wondered into the town they split up, since this was the closest village to the Hydra facility they were almost certain there would be Hydra eyes and ears all over the place.  
Also, if a big group of wet, bloody and beaten teenagers are walking around people are going to get suspicious.

It ended up with Natasha leading Wanda, Stark and Banner to go locate some change of clothing. Leaving Thor, Barton, Steve, Pietro and James to gather as many rations as possible and then they agreed to meet up by the church and try and find a place to rest.  
Personally Romanoff felt the boys had the easiest job; Pietro was already healing and despite not returning to his fall speed he could keep a constant pace with Rogers', the pair shouldn't struggle to nick some food.  
 _Though this was Steve Rogers they were talking about._

Banner and Stark spied a clothes store in the market and set about distracting the employee's whilst the girls snatched as much as possible.  
The majority of the clothes were quite old fashioned and vintage, anything modern they had, in the store, would definitely defeat the object of warmth and stability.  
Some of the dresses in there would have been shorter on Romanoff than the t-shirt she was possessing; but it would have to do for now.  
It hadn't taken long for the spy to recognise her native tongue, nor had it for James either - they'd spent a large majority of their lives in Russia.

The fact that Hydra's main base was located in Russia gave Romanoff the chills, but it could have easily been mistaken for the lack of clothing and intense breeze.

In the front of the store, Nat could feel the tension erupting from extreme over reactions and tantrum throwing; Stark was in full swing.  
Natasha instantly grabbed several t-shirts, a few pairs of shorts and 2 dresses. Whilst Wanda managed to sneak out some pairs of shoes and underwear, as a last minute precaution Tasha swigged a few bags of make-up and they fled the store whilst ducking a punch thrown by Bruce to Tony.  
 _What had they gotten themselves into?_

The girls sprinted to the church and were shortly followed by Stark and Banner, they weren't surprised to see their fellow Avengers lounging around; Pietro eating an apple as he slumped against a tree. "What took you so long?" He mocked, Nat jokingly snarled "Don't make me regret saving your life, kid." Wanda knocked her brother's arm and then the girls spread everything out before them.  
After everybody had grabbed at least one new item of clothing the girls were left with the tacky dresses, Romanoff rolled her eye and Barton responded "What? Do you really think Stark and I could get away with wearing those more than you two?" Nat ignored him, deciding to stick with the t-shirt for the moment.

"Right, now we just need somewhere to crash." Steve clapped his hands together,  
Thor proposed "We could always sleep in the forest, I'd feel safer."  
Nat changed into the shoes, disappearing behind the tree with Wanda to put on the dresses "I wouldn't."  
Stark began to sound dramatically tired, any image of the guy who'd given her a piggy-back ride whilst opening up to her dissolved with the warming sun. "Well how are 2 massive, blonde thugs, 1 drained psychopath, the Frankenstein twins, a banged up killer assassin and the three bloody brown wanna-be hard core musketeers gonna get a motel to crash at this late notice?"

The two girls returned from the tree, their dresses showing just about enough cleavage to get any man quivering, their hair pulled back and any cuts of bruises visibly hidden due to the ton of make-up Red had swiped earlier. "With the beauty of sex-deprived perverts who speak with their dicks and are oblivious to anything above the bosom area!"  
Hurriedly, the girls ran to the nearest motel, ignoring Pietro and Steve's displeased demands.

As they approached the rundown reception area, which would have been better titled as a barn, Nat saw Wanda's dancing eyes. Instantly Romanoff mouthed 'Let me do the talking' no matter their same age, Tasha had experienced enough of this kind of thing to feel moderately familiar with the circumstances and she'd do anything to keep Wanda out of that scenario for as long as possible.

But as soon as Natasha got the receptionist's attention a spiral appeared, protecting Nat's honour, and was absorbed into the jaw-dropping pig's ear, immediately he handed over three keys.  
Wanda whispered "Or we could go about this an easier way."  
Natasha chuckled before uttering "Don't tell the guys! If they find out I didn't get to use my...charismatic charm...they'll never let me live it down." Wanda sniggered before Tasha ran outside motioning the guys to come.

Banner and Thor grabbing the bundle of food and water Pietro had stashed. Steve appeared at Romanoff's side "That was quick." His tone intimidatingly jealous, his jaw fixed as he eyed the obliviously blind receptionist. Nat just bit her lip and winked before grabbing a key from Wanda and heading down the corridor.

"Okay so we have three rooms, so that works out to three in each." Natasha turned, suddenly seeing the likelihood of roommates, she had to control a cringe when Stark stepped up "Tax going with Red and Spangles over here, the bed will need a witness to the damage caused before filing a court order." Nat forced laughter at his mocking saviour.

Barton made to go in with Wanda and Pietro when Witch's hand paused on his arm, without a word Clint understood and stepped back to follow Thor and Banner.  
Nat sighed in relief, she'd been concerned that the Maximoff twins would have shunned him away, she'd been even more worried that he'd have to bunk with her and Steve. _Talk about awkward._

But Wanda and Pietro made no move to push him away as he silently followed them into the room.  
Natasha then followed Tony and Steve into the room, of course he called dibs on the bathroom first and the soft sound of spilling water relaxed Natasha's tense hunch. Immediately she turned to face Steve, he was examining her thoroughly. Checking her wounds, they were mostly healing; the bruises were scattered in clumps alone her body as well as a mixture of dry blood.

In all the commotion Natasha had barely thought about this moment when they'd be alone together.  
All she wanted to do was hug him and kiss him, but she felt like they weren't in the clear yet. She couldn't risk falling into his touch of reassurance that they were safe when she didn't know that for sure.

Despite her head being tangled up her body knew the perfect medicine, she walked to him, falling like a rag doll against his strong brace. She gripped him with all her remaining strength; as did he, neither caring if they were hurting the other.  
Natasha's head moved of his shoulder and her lips caught his, the kiss didn't steal her breath; but gave it. She felt a huge weight had been lifted off her trembling shoulders, love fuelled her bones, filling her body completely as she breathed it back out, feeding his body.

After the pain-numbing kiss they held each other until a light tap on the door steeled them, they stared at each for a second before Steve went and answered it. Thor lead the rest of the Avengers in who handed over a pile of food which Steve and Nat gobbled up easily, just remembering to save some for Stark after his bath.  
They then downed two bottles of water and already Natasha felt stronger, she smiled at Clint "Have you contacted Fury?" He rose from his seat on the crowded couch and walked to Romanoff "I was gonna save that pleasure for our Captain."

Steve's complexion greyed at the thought and Tasha elbowed Barton; God knows how Steve's gonna be punished for this. She wouldn't let that happen "I'll do it, it's my fault this happened anyway."  
An army of protests rounded the corner "It's nobody's fault." Thor boomed, and Bruce backed him up.  
"Thor's right, it's nobody's fault...at least none of ours." Even though everybody knew that jab wasn't aimed at him - but Hydra - James still shifted uncomfortably and then stood to evacuate Pietro hobbled over to him "James...that's not what he meant."  
Bucky stared back, his long hair imprisoning his eyes "Doesn't matter, I'm going to go get some air." Nat's head fell as she stared after him, surprising everybody Steve stood and followed.

The bathroom door shut and the remaining Avengers, after recovering from their flinch, turned to see Stark "Um...hello people who are not sleeping here. Shouldn't we send somebody after them? You know...to stop the ego battle from descending."  
"You're one to talk about ego battle..." An anonymous voice broke out from the silence.  
Nat shook her head firmly and turned to Barton "Let's go call Fury."

* * *

Steve raced outside, chasing after Bucky. He was slightly nervous, since they'd been captured he hadn't actually spoken to James, only seen him interact quite intimately with Widow.  
Which as you'd except caused quite a lot of discomfort, but he understood Nat. Steve understood why she'd had such a rich past with him and why it was so hard to...not necessarily erase it, because you couldn't but to put it behind her.

But it was different with James, every interaction they'd shared had been rigid. Rogers wasn't even sure whether he remembered him or not, as Steve rounded the next corner he spotted his dark silhouette slipping into the evening sky, Steve yelled after him "Bucky!" Barnes paused, his stance said how he was debating whether or not to ignore Steve.  
 _Please don't ignore me._

Reluctantly he turned and waited for Cap to catch up "You're not leaving are you?" James didn't look him in the eye "What's it to you?" Steve shrugged "You're my friend." The chuckle that rolled off his tongue was harsh and hurtful but Steve ignored it. "Look man, we may have a history but none of that matters when..."

"Can you even remember our history? Because if you could I know you wouldn't be saying that." James placed his hands in his pockets and found an abandoned park bench to rest on.  
A lot had happened today.  
Slowly he approached the tender subject "I have...flash backs, particularly when I'm around you or Wanda." Steve's brow furrowed "She just brings it out of me, I guess."

Rogers' concluded it was too wavering an affair to talk about in such little secrecy. So he moved on "You seem to be taking this quite hard." James looked at him out of the corner of his eye "You would if it were you." Cap couldn't help but smile at the reassurance of the firm tone he used, Buck wasn't asking, he was stating; as if he were describing the weather.

Barnes continued without being pushed or prodded "I just feel this abundance of guilt that I can't shake off my chest." Steve sighed an all too familiar understanding. "I've put you and your friends through so much, some of which to this second I'd struggle to label as wrong, but somehow I know it's not right."  
Steve grimaced at the memories blurring his vision; it was as if Wanda were here transporting them from his mind to his surveillance of the sleeping town.

"Yeah, you've been acting a real asshole, recently." James laughed tasting the bitter insult and accepting it, almost as if it's what they did to each other after a set back.  
"Well that's one way to put it" Bucky stared off in the distance "I really am sorry you know" Steve frowned "For what?"  
James was still as an icicle. "For everything...the monster I became. Even though I don't completely remember our friendship, and I'm sure if we spent more time together I would, I get the feeling if I hadn't been such an...asshole...we'd be friends."

Steve's voice took a turn from peaceful to furious "What the hell is wrong with you?"  
Barnes looked confused "Umm..."  
"Why do you feel the need to apologize for something you didn't sign up for? Why should you apologize for the monster you've become when no one ever apologized for making you that way?"

James stared at him, ignoring the guilt-lifting advice, spoken from the all time American hero "Why are you trying to cheer me up, when all I've done is cause you and Romanoff and all your friends, pain and misery?"  
Cap shrugged in response before changing the subject "Come on Buck, we should head back."  
Steve got up but stopped when he saw Bucky wasn't moving and Rogers' responded "Come on, you need to rest."  
"No I don't."  
"Yes you do, now come on!" Firmly Steve stood again.  
"Why do you care what I do? Why are you looking out for me, Steve."  
"Everybody needs somebody looking out for them." He solemnly declared.

Bucky refused to meet the eyes of his newly reforming friend. "You're making a mistake...I'll hurt you again."

"I know you can't properly remember us as we were, at least not yet. But..." Rogers' turned back to him and repeated the words an old friend had once said to him. "Did you truly like me? Before all this happened...Did you respect me?"  
Without skipping a beat Bucky mumbled "Yes!"  
"Well then...give me the respect of making my own decisions!"

James stared in awe at the moulding form of friendship building between them, slowly, but still building. "Now come on Buck, it's getting late!"  
Bucky stood from the bench, walking beside Steve as they made their way back to the motel "Oh...don't tell me Captain America is scared of the dark?" He teased at Rogers' desire to get back.

As their shadows danced in the few street-lamps dotting the place, they shifted from two familiar strangers to two crawling friends. They'd get back to where they were, it would just take time.

* * *

Stark was snoring loudly, immune to Natasha's definite paces across the already worn carpet. Everybody else had returned to their rooms for an early night, Romanoff and Barton had contacted Fury and an evac jet was already on its way; it should be here by morning.  
But Steve and Bucky still hadn't returned.

Hence Tasha's distress; anything could have happened:  
 _Steve could have never found Bucky and be searching frantically,  
They could have gotten into a serious fight and ended up severally injuring each other,  
Hydra could have found us and taken them prisoners,  
Or worse..._

Nat suddenly ran to the door, she was going to search for them herself, but she was cut off by the door magically moving towards her. Steve burst throw, silencing her with a finger to his lips as his eyes cast over Stark.

Natasha ran her hands over his arms, holding him to her. She knew she'd overreacted but..."Where's Barnes?" She stammered, swallowing down panic. Cap pointed outside the door "Don't worry he's in with the Maximoffs."  
Romanoff took a calming breath before wrapping herself in a promising kiss; she wished Stark wasn't in here.

 _He is asleep..._  
A disturbing voice muttered, luckily Tasha knew it wasn't Wanda's. Though the idea was appealing but then...  
 _Imagine if he woke up?  
_ It was destroyed by the imagine of a squealing Stark who'd never let them live it down.

A raised eye-brow from Steve told Widow her face wasn't as concealing as usual, she shook her head before leading him to the bed.  
Steve wrapped his arms protectively around her shivering body, his heat somehow cooling her and keeping Nat at a constantly comfortable temperature.

He kissed the back of her neck before whispering "Good night Natasha." She squeezed his hand, pulling him closer; her back pressing into his abs. "Good night Steve." She kissed his hand before slowly sinking into an ibis of peaceful pleasure.

 **I know it's a shorter chapter but...I really wanted to post it anyway! Please review xx**


	14. More to this

**Once again sorry for the very very delayed update...but here it is!**

Wide-eyed and sleep deprived Avengers assembled once again in Romanoff's room, nobody spoke; just the promise of fighting away isolation was satisfying enough. After watching each other being tortured and used there had been the push no one had asked for, the forest of teenagers were a lot closer than they had been; even the Avengers who'd been working together for quite sometime now; even Cap and Widow - who'd been the closest before - had discovered an orchestra of secret truths.  
So many things had been unspoken and now shared, things they had been happy to leave hidden. But now...there was nothing they could do to take them back.

Their extraction should be here soon, maybe even 10 minutes, but the thought of leaving this place was scary.  
Of course nobody wanted to go back, no one would _ever_ want to go back, however after the night of peace Tasha wasn't nervous to lower the team's morale spirit; it was already crouching. She felt no shame in making it crawl for a little while; but she hadn't needed to share her thoughts.  
Overall everybody had at least admired the possibility that Hydra had wanted them to escape, it had been so easy.

Then again, they were making more and more progress with killing Hydra once and for all, so maybe it was just them exceeding and improving?  
Natasha knew better though; yes they were the Avengers, though they were all beaten and bloody, desperate and drained, hungry and haunted and energy was tinting their spirits like the tiniest of blushes.

So, if they were barely clinging to the hope of a few more days alive, how had they managed to escape?

Nobody had a solution to that question, they just had to wait until SHIELD's anticipated saviour.  
In the silence that followed hungry hearts, a bleep pierced the void of quiet. The team stood, Wanda moving to the front of the group, a force-field camouflaging their injuries.

Thud.

A door hit the ground, out in the corridor, somebody was searching for them.  
Old partners shared a calculating glance; SHIELD would be subtler. Clint and Nat had been on many sour missions and requested immediate evac, even then SHIELD had taken its time to alert them of their arrival. Being as quiet and undetected as a lurking door-mouse, but this was...almost careless.

Steve moved to the front, preparing to open the door and as he did so he and Quicksilver leaped, tackling the disoriented pair of heavily armed men.  
Thor and Wanda are next out the door, going after the next two who have turned their guns to Rogers' and Pietro's turned backs, quickly Bucky and Widow; without ushering a word, sprint to the end of the corridor and take in the swarm of Hydra soliders flooding the reception.  
Soundlessly, they run back to find the Avengers have taken out the ones on this floor "There's thousands down there, all armed...it would be risky." Nat pants whilst kicking a squirming goon in the head.

Stark pestered "So what's our next move?" he was cut off as Romanoff and Barton's eyes danced to the ceiling, a gentle whisper of a whistle ran through the vents. "Get to the roof!" They yelled; SHIELD evac was here.

When they found the roof Nat's cheeks gushed with a red, hot relief of a blush as the wind hit her from behind; a quinjet was hovering above the decaying roof, the bridge open. Without wasting a second everybody climbed in, Romanoff was the last to board, as she did so she turned back to the hotel. Suddenly the Hydra agents took note of the jet on the roof and pounded towards them, aiming their guns.

But they were too late, the doors closed swiftly and Tasha allowed herself to slouch in the acheing feeling of a sudden, defiant bewilderment. Soon all the Avengers rested into their seats and Banner began another thorough check on each member, at the moment he was checking over Pietro. Thor, Barton and Stark were in the corner stuffing their faces with food.  
Nat spied Wanda engaging with a grinning Bucky.  
The one person who was missing was...  
Steve gripped her waist from behind, pulling her to him. Romanoff felt her feet lift above the floor as her weight was pulled easily into his arms. She sunk against him, it was so easy for her to just let him move her; at least it was a lot less painful.

It wasn't long before a screen buzzed to life and the stoic face of Nick Fury appeared, his eyes darting around at the vision playing out before him. Steve made as if to abandon Nat but Tony shoved him playfully aside and walked to the atmosphere dampening fist of Fury.

A vibrating sigh rocked against Romanoff's back and she crawled further into the comfort of his body as he sat down, slowly they began to drift off to sleep. The angry growl of a endless droin from their furious boss was the lullaby Nat had always dreamed of falling asleep to.

* * *

"Do you mind telling me what the hell happened out there?" The team were back in SHIELD headquarters, the evac team had wanted to send them all straight to the hopsital but Director Fury had other ideas.  
They were all sat around a black, round converance table, preparing for a lay-in.  
Usually they'd all be spread as far away from each other as humanly possible, whilst still being sat at the table. But this time, they occupied the seats next to each other.

Nat's hand rested on Steve's thigh under the table and gripped his leg tighter when she felt him exhale, preparing to explain. But Romanoff butted in, explaining everything before Steve could even utter an apology.  
After the mildly rushed elaboration Fury began pacing. "So...what you thought we'd just take in the three orphans you picked up along the way? We're not in the recruiting business...especially from Hydra!"  
The harshness in his words made Nat grateful Fury had left the three 'orphans' at the hospital, though they _should_ be here.

Barton hissed "Sorry what part of the story didn't you understand? Without them we would have died."  
"Without them you wouldn't have been captured in the first place."  
Stark retorted "But we would have been ambushed and possibly taken in as hostages anyway."  
Thor looked up at Director Fury "Let's forget all of that and move on. The point is they saved us, now if you can't be grateful enough to express some form of gratitude then..."  
Fury snapped "Then what?"  
Steve spoke for the first time "Sir we understand the inconvenace, but we're not asking for them to join the team. We're not even sure they want to after that incident. We're just asking SHIELD to look out for them."

Fury put his head in his hands and chuckled, actually chuckled. "Fine we'll negotionate with them, but I'm not making any promises."  
Natasha folded her arms, her hand moving from Steve's leg, but his rested on hers. "And if they want to join the team they should be able to." The group of men eyed her affectionately, smiling. If any of them could convince Fury of something; it was her.

Nick agreed with a twist of his wrist, the subject changing "Sir, don't you think..." Nat started  
"That it was too easy for you to get away? Yes I do, however I'm not sure why."  
Stark raised his hand "Might be because Red put Pierce in his place." Fury smiled smugly at the agent.  
"I have a theory" Banner began "They may have counted on the fact that James was with us, after all when we were breaking out he'd just finished beating the crap out of Pietro and then all of a sudden he switched out of it and helped us."

Steve shuddered uncomfortably "I don't think that's it. I know it's hard to believe, but when I spoke with him the other night...it felt real."  
Nat hummed in agreement and Clint reminded "Plus Wanda would be able to tell."

Fury began "That doesn't matter at the moment."  
Steve looked up through his eyelashes "Are you gonna tell us why we were really sent there?"

Nick sat down at the opposing chair, interlacing his fingers as he did so "We did need you to check if there was an infiltration...but we could have easily sent a group of higher agents who'd conduct a better...back story and would settle in quicker"  
Stark groaned and rolled his eyes.  
"But we sent you, because not only would it challenge you all and give you something to do, but...I was hoping it would bring the team back together. You were falling apart, not listening to each other, ignoring your leader. The best leader I have to offer." Fury turned to Cap as if they were having a private conversation "The pressure I was putting on you...I did it for the team. I knew if I stepped down on you, you'd be even more determined to see your team through it, because as modest as you are I think everyone in this room can agree that nobody would lead the group better than Rogers."  
Natasha gulped remembering her first annoyance at not being given the title, but she smiled at Steve, knowing he was watching her. _Fury had made the right decision._

"I also knew that no one except you actually had a chance at...taming Stark."  
Tony flashed a pearly-white smile "How's that going for you, old man?"  
Fury continued, driving over the bitter bump in the road. "I also knew this mission would require you to all work together." His eyes lingered between the intermit couple, making Nat's hand fold over Steve's on her thigh.  
"And it would form new loyalties and friendships, I may have lied when I said I didn't want you to recruit anybody. However I never imagined you would...I just wanted you to recruit yourselves. Make you realise why you're here, why you're the ones putting your necks out on the line every single time."

Barton squinted at the older man; Fury not Rogers.  
"So basically...you sent us to high school, to stop a possible infiltration. We get side-tracked with old faces, write the plot for one of the most heated love novels in all history, make new alliances, get kidnapped, tortured brutally, break out of one of Hydra's last remaining facilities and finally make it back to SHIELD, several black eyes and bullet wounds latter...all because you wanted us to developed the-not-at-all-cheesy feeling of 'teamwork'?"

Fury stared at the young archer "Basically." They stared at each other for a second longer before Clint said "Well I'm down with that. But if you don't mind, I've got some friends I have to go check on."

Idly the entire team stood to attention, about to leave before Nick yelled "I don't think you realise how brave you actually are." They looked at him confused "The fact that you can all go through that and still want to continue...and at such a young age as well..."  
Stark smiled "I get it! We're...astounding. I think I'm gonna throw a party to celebrate." He declared before storming out the door, followed by a whooping Thor, Banner and Barton.  
Nat turned to leave but caught Steve, looking hesitant. She took his hand encouragingly and they finally went to leave "Cap I know what you're thinking." Steve looked back and mutters "How can you be proud of us? Of me, the mission was hardly a success."  
"Oh on the contrary, you managed to reunite with your best friend, we've shut down the school for good and have Hydra located on our system, you saved two lost twins who have the power to be something brilliant. You brought the team together and you managed to open up Romanoff whilst doing so." Nick winked at Natasha.

Natasha lead Steve to the door, smiling at her modest, self-righteous, gentlemanly goof who never, in his eyes, will do enough to protect the universe. "By the way, if you two aren't busy do you mind watching out for Stark at that party tonight. I doubt he'll hold back." The couple smiled before racing out and heading back to the Avengers tower, where they found the twins and Bucky already stationed as Tony gave a grand tour before rushing off to plan what he exclaimed would be "The best party in the history of all parties!"

After witnessing a slightly hushed conversation, so delicately clumsy it was almost awkward, between James and Steve, Bucky left. He'd told Rogers' that he'd never be gone longer than a month and would regularly check up on him, but at the moment he had to make peace with his past and he had to do that alone. Natasha could tell he was reluctant to let him go, but a shared glance with Wanda gave Steve all the assurance he needed.

Rogers' was walking back with Romanoff to her room, Tony had given them eight hours to freshen up for the party, which to the Avengers meant sleep, but to Stark implied a certain level of pampering.

Natasha jumped on her bed, feeling rather than seeing Steve do the same. "Oh, I feel like I could sleep for 70 years!" Nat sighed, then her eyes froze as she looked at a chuckling Rogers' whose ears turned brighter than her hair. Slowly she turned on her side to face him, her fingers playing with the thin fabric concealing his breathing body.  
He smiled as her lips found his, then his cheek and he stiffened as they traced a whisper of affection along his jaw.

Steve groaned as she rolled on top of him and he awakened a wild beast inside of her as Cap's hands lifted layers of pointless material until there was nothing left except a sky of smooth skin.

They spent the remainder of the afternoon wrapped in each others' arms, until Stark yelled down JARVIS' regular line "STOP WHATEVER YOU ARE DOING! The party is in an hour, I REPEAT 1 HOUR. If you are not already dressed you have 45 minutes and then I want you assembled in the lounge OR ELSE!"  
After the annoyingly loud voice message a prompt knock on the door pushed them to begin getting ready, Nat answered and smiled at seeing Wanda. Who looked surprisingly unhinged "Wanda...what?"  
The girl yelled "Will you help me get ready?" Natasha smiled, Steve quickly redressed and stole a kiss before sneaking past Wanda. Nat suddenly pounced after him hitting his butt on his way out.

* * *

"What time do you call this?" Stark's hearty scream was just heard over the roar of music. In the centre of the lounge was a canopy of long legs and short dresses. Grinding body's moulded to each other and a layer of sweat was the most common fashion accessory worn, the two girls strolled into the party that started 5 minutes ago and appeared to have no ending in sight; it had already began a rambling dialogue of bad music, dirty dancing, wavering lights and flirty teenagers.  
From the looks of things most people here had no idea what was being celebrated let alone whose party it was, but Natasha didn't care; she was too busy scanning for her special someone.

Next to her Wanda began playing with her hair; unlike the usual curtain of secrecy it provided the brown rug was pulled back - with a few loose strands to frame her face - showing of her piercingly beautiful bewilderment and wonderfully poised features.  
She wore a red gown which was fitted around her midsection and finished at her knees, a thin layer of tinted red fabric was loosely worn over the tight dress. She looked beautiful and Natasha was pleased she wouldn't be stealing the show, for once.

"Stop fidgeting!" Romanoff scolded and then smiled "You look beautiful." Suddenly another presence comes to Nat's attention and she turns to see Sam eyeing them adoringly, he's draped in a black leather jacket, black trousers and a black shirt, Romanoff hugs him affectionately "You look colourful!" She chuckles and turns to show off Wanda. "Sam I'd like you to meet my friend Wanda Maximoff. Wanda this is Birdboy number 2."  
Falcon scowls before muttering "You and me both know I'm birdboy 1!"  
Out of the changing shadows Clint struts and walks over to the trio "Wanna bet birdbrain?"  
Natasha quickly left those three talking, she'd have to watch out for them later, otherwise she could miss a pretty interesting fight.

Romanoff scanned the remaining guests, she spies Jane - the girl Thor had begun dating whilst at 'High school' - talking with Banner and Thor. _I wonder how Thor explained that one._  
Stark is surprisingly not surrounded by dozens of intoxicated girls, instead he's stood next to...  
"Pepper!" Natasha squeals and immediately embraces the draped in blue, strawberry blonde. Romanoff's eyes expand and she squirms for sentences to form "What..how...ah..?" The girls begin engaging in conversation and Pepper goes on to say how SHIELD had contacted her. But then Tony coughed "Sorry to interrupt but Red, don't you have a Captain to be watching."  
Nat rolled her eyes before hugging Potts, and leaving the clearly riffled Tony to his daring deeds.

Natasha searched everywhere for Rogers' so much so that she rounded back to a tiny-winy tipsy Wanda and a dancing Pietro who managed to steal a few dances from Romanoff. Finally Nat found him on the roof with a beer in hand, the music could still be heard from outside and the only light came from the street lamps and cueing cars below.  
"Party too much for your old ears?" She teased, revealing her presence.  
Steve turned to her, revealing a navy blue shirt which matched his eyes and a pair of black jeans. He looked charmingly handsome, she wasn't gonna lie. She bite her lip as she walked to him, her hands running up the buttons of his shirt, teasing him with her eyes.

Steve stared down at her, she was wearing a simple black dress which stopped at her mid-thigh. It was very tight around her bosom area and had tiny straps over her shoulders; but expanded into a loose flow, like a fan if she spun it would swirl around her, making her a flower.  
For Natasha Romanoff she was dressed down, beautifully natural, just the way Rogers' loved her. Her hair was its usual curly bundle and her make-up was neutral and plain, if she was wearing any at all.  
Her bruisers and cuts from their recent battle weren't hidden or concealed with make-up, she was bare to the world.

Steve's hands rested on her waist and without an introduction the pair began swaying slowly, immensely out of time with the speeding music. Going at their own pace and Nat felt the happiest she'd ever been in a while.  
They spent the majority of the party on the roof, alone except for the twinkling lights in the sky; the stars cast a spotlight on the dancing duo.

Suddenly, Steve stops laughing and dancing and spins a questioning Nat to see her fellow Avengers; winking, and sharing coy smiles. She smirks before grabbing Wanda and pulling her forwards. The girls immediately begin jumping up and down to the louder, quickening music and after a while of giggling Pietro comes and joins in.  
Making Stark and Thor collapse in hysteria.  
Pietro and Wanda start dancing crazily and Romanoff turns, pouting and then Wilson steps in and the pair begin dancing frantically.  
Soon the remaining Avengers join in, and the music grows louder and louder and the dancing transforms to jagged, rushed motions. They continue for what feels like forever and the one thing that never leaves, no matter how often they stop or how tired they are, or how persuasive the late hours of the evening begging them to stop are; the laughter never dies.

Later that night Clint and Sam test who is the real number 1 birdboy, by a drinking contest, which leads to an embarrassing dance battle. Both result in an achingly close draw which leaves the group with stinging ribs due to the fulfilling feeling of something to smile about.  
The team then choose to spend the remainder of the evening doing something they've never done before; being a group of drunk teenagers at a party.

 **And there we have it! I hope you enjoyed this and I will warn you now for my next story which will be a stinger! Please check it out when it's out, I'm in the process of writing it now so...watch this space! Xx (PLEASE REVIEW)**


End file.
